ICC congratulates Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a marvellous career

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has congratulated former wicketkeeper-batsman and India's most successful captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a wonderful international career that saw him lead his team to victory in all three major ICC tournaments for men.

The 39-year-old, who was captain of the teams that won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2007, the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2011 and the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013, announced his retirement from the international cricket on Saturday on the occassion of India's 74th Independence Day.

Dhoni was an accomplished all-rounder with his smart work behind the stumps and with the bat and was known as one of the greatest finishers in limited overs cricket.

Congratulating Dhoni for an outstanding cricket career, ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said that the former cricketer is one of the all-time greats of the game who has inspired a whole generation.

“MS Dhoni is one of the all-time greats of the game. The image of his winning shot at the Wankhede Stadium in the 2011 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup final is etched in the memory of cricket lovers around the world," Sawhney said.

“He has inspired a whole generation and will be sorely missed. On behalf of the ICC, I congratulate him for an outstanding cricket career and wish him all the best for the future," he added.

Dhoni scored 4,876 runs in 98 matches with 256 catches and 38 stumpings in a Test career that he called an end to in 2014. In ODIs, he scored 10,773 runs with 321 catches and 123 stumpings, last turning out for India in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. In T20Is, he aggregated 1617 runs with 57 catches and 34 stumpings. He scored six centuries in Tests and 10 in ODIs.

Dhoni spent 656 days as the top-ranked batsman in the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings from 2006 to 2010 and was the ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2008 and 2009.

He was in the ICC ODI Teams of the Year in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and in the ICC Test Teams of the Year in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. He won the ICC Spirit of Cricket award in 2011.