When he arrived at the international circuit, Mahendra Singh Dhoni made an instant impression -- not with his batting, but with his hairstyle. He was one of the few players to have long hair at the time, which made him distinctive. However, it didn't take him time to explode with the bat.
In 2005, he played a swashbuckling knock of 148 against Pakistan to announce his arrival in international cricket. Since then, the wicketkeeper-batsman didn't look back.
Today, Dhoni is widely regarded as one of the greatest captains to ever play the game. His leadership in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has also left a lasting impression -- he has led Chennai Super Kings to three IPL titles so far.
On Thursday, the CSK decided to look back at the beginnings of Dhoni. The franchise, on its official social media handle, posted a picture of Dhoni sporting the long hair -- way before the IPL began.
The picture, from 2005, shows Dhoni standing with the likes of Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Venugopal Rao, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Jai Prakash Yadav. With the exception of Yadav, all the players would go on to represent Chennai Super Kings in the future. The picture is from July/August 2005, when India took part in the Indian Oil Cup -- a tri-series involving Sri Lanka and West Indies in Sri Lanka.
Two months later, MS Dhoni would go on to register his highest individual score in ODI cricket. He slammed 183 against Sri Lanka during the seven-match ODI series at home and ended up as the series' highest scorer. India would go on to win the series 6-1.
Under normal circumstances, Dhoni would currently be leading the CSK in the 13th edition of the IPL. However, with cricket coming to a halt due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus, the IPL has been suspended indefinitely.
