Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s rise as captain of Indian cricket team has been a story of bucking the trend and beating the odds.

Calm, composed and true leader of his kind, Dhoni has been phenomenal, be it on the field or off the field.

When Dhoni ended his limited-overs captaincy earlier this month, he successfully secured a record of 331 games across all formats. A colossus among captain-wicketkeepers at that, given that second on the list of most matches across formats is Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim, who is yet to reach 80.

His decision to end his prospering spell of captaincy in ODI came as a shock to most of us. The reason was unknown until his close mate Yuvraj Singh revealed the  secret. The reason is not good enough to feel proud have such a gem in the Indian cricket team. Yuvraj told the media that Dhoni’s decision came to elevate budding cricketer Virat Kohli as captain.

"I think he took a very good decision by stepping down from captaincy. I'm sure he must have felt that it's time for the next guy to take over and build the team for the 2019 World Cup and I'm sure he saw that in Virat Kohli. And I'm sure he has a lot to contribute in the team as a player. I think now we're going to play like how he used to play in the old days when we started. Obviously I started much before him and then he came and I think we both used be fearless when we played together. Hopefully we can do the same in the upcoming series against England," Yuvraj Singh said.

It is an open truth that Dhoni is responsible for encouraging a lot of youngsters. He has been a true leader, who has given enough opportunity to rise and shine in the cricketing arena.

"I think he's been an extremely good captain for India. We won the 2007 World T20 in South Africa, 2011 World Cup under him they are really big achievements. We were the No. 1 Test team under him. These are amazing achievements and I'm not sure how many captains have that kind of a record. He's been very calm and composed,” Yuvraj further added.