End of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's roller-coaster ride as Test captain

MELBOURNE: Two World Cup titles, No. 1 Test rankings, most number of wins under his belt but on the flip side, a spate of overseas Test losses, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's tenure at the helm of India's cricket captaincy was nothing short of a roller-coaster ride.

The 33-year-old cricketer from Ranchi, who gave small town boys a chance to dream big, today surprised the cricket world with his sudden announcement of immediate retirement from Test cricket, making way for Virat Kohli to don the mantle of captaincy.

It all started for him with the 2007 World T20, and that was followed by a dream run in ODIs and Tests too, as he presided over India's rise to the pinnacle of Test cricket from 2009-11.

Besides the triumph in the inaugural T20 World Championship, India also won the ODI World Cup in 2011 at home under his captaincy, breaking a 28-year-old jinx since the maiden triumph in 1983.

He, as well as the national team, went through on-field transition as well as off-field controversies surrounding the Indian Premier League 6 spot-fixing scandal that rocked Indian cricket.

If he had faced criticism over the controversies, Dhoni was also not spared when it came to his batting especially against top quality bowling on the fast and bouncy wickets away from home.

Overall Dhoni led India in 60 Tests, winning 27 of them and losing 18 with a success rate of 45.00. 14 matches had ended in draws. Under his captaincy, the team managed to win just six Tests on overseas while losing 15 and drawing nine.

In batting, he averaged 40.63 as captain, and totalled 3454 runs with a best of 224. He had hit five centuries as captain. The legendary Sunil Gavaskar had averaged 50.72 while leading the team.

Dhoni's overall Test record stands at 4876 runs in 90 matches with 224 being the best-ever score in a single innings. He struck six tons in his Test career and 33 half centuries, averaging 38.09.

Nicknamed 'Captain Cool' for his calm demeanour in the face of challenging situations, Dhoni's sudden retirement was complete shocker for the followers of the game given that he did not give hint of it even though he was addressing his final press conference as India's Test captain.

With the exception of batting great Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni remains among the most popular cricketers in India, his small-town background adding to his charm.

A ticket inspector with the Indian Railways before making it big on the cricket field, he earned followers for not just his daredevil leadership in the limited-overs format but also his unconventional looks and hairstyle.

He has already surpassed Tendulkar as the highest-earning Indian sportsman in the advertising world but has been painfully media shy otherwise.