MS Dhoni steps down as India's limited-overs captain

MS Dhoni has stepped down as captain of India's limited-overs teams ahead of the ODIs and T20Is against England. Dhoni will still be available for selection as a wicketkeeper-batsman for the series though, the BCCI said on Wednesday evening and added that the same has been conveyed to the Senior Selection Committee.

"Mahendra Singh Dhoni has informed the BCCI, that he wishes to step down as the captain of the Indian Cricket Team from the One Day Internationals and the T20 Internationals formats of the game," BCCI said in a release.

Mr Rahul Johri, Chief Executive Officer of the BCCI said, "On the behalf of every Indian cricket fan and the BCCI, I would like to thank MS Dhoni for his outstanding contribution as the captain of the Indian team across all formats. Under his leadership, Indian team has touched new heights and his achievements will remain etched forever in the annals of Indian cricket."

Dhoni had stepped down from Test captaincy in an even more sudden move in December 2014 - in the midst of the Australia tour of 2014-15 right after the Boxing day Test at Melbourne. However, he had held on to the reins of the limited overs squads despite calls from multiple ex-players for him to give way. In the end, he appears to have left on his own terms right allowing enough time for Virat Kohli to grow into the skipper's role and take over the team across all over formats and with eyes set on the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni remains the only captain to have won the World Cup across both the formats - winning the World T20 in 2007 and the ICC World Cup in 2011. Under him, India had won the Champions Trophy in 2013 as well. He also has the record for captaining a team in the most number of international matches - 331 games across the three formats.

Dhoni's last stint as Indian captain was against New Zealand at home in October 2016, when he led India to a 3-2 series win over the visitors.

After making his international debut in 2004, Dhoni quickly moved up the order while India enjoyed a golden era under Sourav Ganguly. He was named skipper of the Indian T20 side in 2007 just before the T20 World Cup where he led a bunch of rookies to the title. He then took over as the ODI captain after Rahul Dravid stepped down in the same year, and finally took over the helm of the Test team after Anil Kumble's retirement in 2008 against Australia in Nagpur.

In the recent past, Dhoni has been spending his time mentoring the Jharkhand Ranji team who have had a dream run so far, but finally crashed out of the tournament today against Gujarat.