To say he is the most popular Indian cricketer at present would be an understatement. Whether it is his aggressive batting or his movie star looks, plus or minus mane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the biggest star on the cricketing horizon.
Whatever he did this year made headlines -- from his poor show in the Caribbean, to an impressive comeback on the Bangladesh tour; from his elevation to the vice-captaincy for the tours to Ireland and England to taking over as the one-day captain after Rahul Dravid's resignation.
His looks have earned him endorsement slots opposite personalities as diverse as Narain Karthikeyan and Shah Rukh Khan, but the year just ending will be remembered for an altogether different reason.
The signal achievement undoubtedly was when he led an inexperienced Indian outfit to triumph in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.
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Dhoni impressed with a laid-back leadership style, a zen-like calm that percolated to his colleagues and allowed the team, at one point staring at elimination, to successively beat England, Australia and Pakistan to lift the inaugural trophy.
He then led the team to a series win against Pakistan, to seal what has been the year of his coming of age. And by way of silver lining, he showed that he is a strong minded individual by backing his team-mates when they needed it most. The case of Rahul Dravid is just one example.
When his predecessor was going through a low patch and subsequently dropped from the one-day squad, Dhoni handled the media like a true captain. On some occasions there was a witty one-liner and a sudden change of topic, on others there was a stoic silence, which reflected his unwillingness to answer any controversial question.
All said, Dhoni is definitely taking his new role seriously. And he has what it takes to lead India in future and even assume the mantle of Test captaincy. His form with the bat was on-off in the last year, though he performed his duties behind the stumps quite admirably. But it is still early days yet. Whether Dhoni the captain affects Dhoni the player in the long run remains to be seen.
Mane-risms
After the shocking loss to Bangladesh in the World Cup, Dhoni's under-construction house in his home-town Ranchi was vandalised and damaged by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha activists; the local police had to arrange for security for his family.
In June, Dhoni (139 not out) and Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene (107) set a new world record for the sixth wicket partnership (218 runs) against Africa XI during the Afro-Asia Cup.
He was named vice-captain of the ODI team for the series against South Africa in Ireland and the subsequent seven-match ODI series in England.
He equalled Australian Adam Gilchrist's record for the most dismissals in an ODI innings by catching five English batsmen and stumping one at Headlingly in early September.
He became only the second Indian captain to win a World Cup -- after the legendary Kapil Dev -- when he led India to the ICC World Twenty 20 Championships in South Africa in September.
Photograph: Duif du Toit/Gallo Images/Getty Images
Also read: Awesome Mahi!
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