Twitter goes berserk as Captain Cool MS Dhoni returns after 696 days to lead Indian side for the 200th time
696 days after playing his last match as the captain of Indian, Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be playing his 200th ODI as a captain against Afghanistan in India's last Super Four match of the 2018 Asia Cup. With this match, Dhoni became the first Asian captain to lead his side in 200 ODIs. He is third on the list of players which most ODIs as captain behind Australia's Ricky Ponting (230 matches) and New Zealand's Stephen Flemming (218 matches).
In his 199 games as the captain of the Indian side, MS Dhoni won 110 matches and lost 74 matches. As a captain, he scored 6633 runs with an average of 53.92 at a strike rate of 86.29 prior to today.
in the 199 matches that he captained India, he scored 6633 runs with an average of 53.92 at a strike rate of 86.29. Dhoni stepped down as the captain of India after India's match against New Zealand at Vishakapatnam in October 2016. He made the decision to step down as the captain to give ample time to Virat Kohli for settling down as the captain before the 2019 World Cup.
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Dhoni's comments after the toss:
We were looking to bowl first. Quite a few changes. Both the openers are missing, Bhuvi, Bumrah and Chahal are also missing. Everybody who hadn't played in this tournament gets a chance. They are part of the 15 and are representing India. We'll have to keep the intensity up. It is important for them to adjust to the line and length they need to bowl. I was not really sure of where I am standing. I have captained 199 ODIs, so this gives me an opportunity to make it 200. It's all destiny and I have always believed in that. It's not in my control, once I left captainship. Good to complete 200, but I don't think it really matters.
While Afghanistan made just two changes to their playing XI, India made quite a few changes to side as the management wanted to give a chance to everyone in the squad. While Deepak Chahar will make his ODI debut for India in this match, key players like Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Jaspreet Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal were rested.
India's Playing XI: Lokesh Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni(w/c), Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Siddarth Kaul, Kuldeep Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed
Here are the Twitters reactions to MS Dhoni's return to captaincy: