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Dhoni's captained India without captaining his home states

As Mahendra Singh Dhoni turns 30 on Thursday, Rajneesh Gupta jots down some facts and figures that have made the India captain a success story.

Full name: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Born: 7 July 1981 at Ranchi, Bihar (now Jharkhand)

Type: Right hand batsman, Right arm medium bowler, Wicketkeeper

Major Teams: India, India 'A', India Blue, Indian Board President's XI, India Seniors, Bihar, East Zone, , Jharkhand, Rest of India, Chennai Super Kings, Asia XI.

First Class Debut: For Bihar v Assam at Jamshedpur, 1999-00 (Ranji Trophy) -- batted at number 7; made 40 off 68 balls in the first innings and 68* off 89 balls in the second innings; effected one stumping.

Test Debut: v Sri Lanka at Chennai, 2005-06 batted at number 7; made 30 off 54 balls in first innings; did not bat in second innings; took one catch.

One-Day (List 'A') Debut: For Bihar v Assam at Jamshedpur, 1999-00 (Ranji Trophy One-Dayer) did not bat; took one catch.

One-Day International Debut: v Bangladesh at Chittagong, 2004-05; batted at number 7; was run-out on 0 off the very first ball; did not make any dismissal.

Twenty20 Debut: For India v South Africa at Johannesburg, 2006-07 (Twenty20 international) -- batted at number 4; made 0 off 2 balls; took one catch and was involved in a run-out.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni holds the unique distinction of captaining India in an international match without ever captaining his home states Bihar and Jharkhand in Ranji Trophy or any other important domestic cricket match. In fact he had the experience of captaining a side only once before leading India in ICC Twenty20 Championship in 2007. That game was between Indians and England A at Northampton.

Dhoni's achievements as captain...

- Only captain to win World Cup in both formats of the game ODIs & T20Is.

- Only the eighth Indian captain (after Polly Umrigar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and Anil Kumble) to start his captaincy stint with a win. Dhoni had made his captaincy debut against South Africa at Kanpur in April 2008, which India won by 8 wickets.

- At 30, Dhoni has delivered! Wish him

- Only the second Indian captain (after Sourav Ganguly) to win his debut Tests both at home and abroad. He led India for the first time in an overseas Test against New Zealand at Hamilton in March 2009, which India won by 10 wickets.

- Hasn't yet faced a series defeat in Test cricket.

Led India to No 1 Test ranking for the first time

- Has won all the four Tests against Australia in which he has led India!

- Is the only Indian captain to win both Test and bilateral ODI series against Australia.

- Under his captaincy India became first team in Test history to make successful fourth innings chase in three consecutive Tests.

- Under Dhoni's captaincy, India had never lost a test match till the first Test versus South Africa in Nagpur in Feb 2010.

- Led India to number one position in ICC rankings in Test cricket for the first time.

First Indian captain to win Test series in NZ

- Under Dhoni's captaincy, India reached their highest Test score of 726 9 (decl) during Sri Lanka's tour of India in 2009.

- Became the first Indian captain to win a Test match on New Zealand soil in 33 years when he led India to 10-wicket win at Hamilton in March 2009. Before him, Sunil Gavaskar had won a Test at New Zealand soil way back in January 1976.

- Became the first Indian captain to win a Test series against New Zealand in New Zealand since Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, who led India to a 1-0 win in February 1968.

- First Indian captain to make a clean-sweep in a Test series (of at least 2 matches) against Australia.

-Under Dhoni's captaincy, India made 387-4 in the fourth innings of Chennai Test to beat England -- their second highest successful 4th innings chase in Test cricket.

Only Indian captain to win a triangular ODI series in Australia

- Only Indian captain to win a triangular ODI series in Australia.(Sunil Gavaskar had led India to World Championship of Cricket in 1985, but it was a multilateral tournament and not a triangular series).

- Only Indian captain to win bilateral ODI series in New Zealand.

- Only Indian captain to win bilateral ODI series in Sri Lanka.

- Only wicketkeeper to captain his side in 100 ODIs.

- Only the third player to captain India in 100 ODIs after Mohammad Azharuddin (174) and Sourav Ganguly (146).