In September 2007, MS Dhoni was captaining India for the first time that too in the 2007 T20 World Cup against the arch-rivals Pakistan. Before Dhoni, the former Indian star batter Rahul Dravid was leading the team in all formats but after his departure, it was Dhoni looking after the team.
Before the T20 World Cup 2007, Rahul Dravid decided not to take part in the shortest format of the game. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly followed the same path and missed the inaugural season of the T20 extravaganza. After this, BCCI decided to send a young and enthusiastic team to South Africa under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. Interestingly when Dhoni was in the middle of the 2007 T20 World Cup, Rahul Dravid decided not to continue as captain anymore. Then, Sharad Pawar – the president of BCCI asked Sachin Tendulkar to take the command which he refused and advised Dhoni’s name for the same.
The Indian selection committee under the command of former captain Dilip Vengsarkar did not feel the need to rush in announcing Rahul Dravid’s successor. After seeing Dhoni’s leadership during the T20 World Cup, they were sure that he was the ideal choice, especially for limited-overs cricket.
“Apart from being an automatic choice in the team, you look at the player’s cricketing acumen, body language, ability to lead from the front, and man management skills. We saw Dhoni’s approach to the game, body language, how he spoke to others; we got positive feedback,” Vengsarkar told Hindustan Times.
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The decision to make Dhoni the captain of Team India went into the favor of the men in blue and after becoming No.1 in Test Cricket, India won the 2011 ODI World Cup, Commonwealth Bank Series, and ICC Champions Trophy under Dhoni’s reign.
