After a puzzling absence from cricket for over a year, MS Dhoni decided to announce his international retirement in typical Dhoni fashion, through a post on social media. While there was no grand farewell, the silent exit doesn’t dim the numbers, milestones and titles he pocketed since the second half of the 2000s.From Dhoni‘s silent, unnoticed international arrival in December 2004 against Bangladesh in a low-profile series, when he was run-out for a first-ball duck, to the semi-final against New Zealand at the 2019 World Cup, when he failed to get India over the line, his career seemed to have been bookended by disappointments.However, inbetween that, he became possibly the biggest influence on Indian cricket, from leading the side to the inaugural World T20 title in 2007 – triggering a T20 revolution in the sport – the ODI World Cup in 2011 and to the top of the Test rankings. Individually as well, Dhoni got India out of pickles repeatedly, and built a reputation for himself as The Finisher.In all, there were plenty of heady days over the last 16 years. We look at his career in pictures, comprising both the highs and the lows of what turned out to be a magnificent one.
