Netizens hail 'Captain Cool', remember Dhoni's leadership debut

It was on September 14, 2007, when former India skipper MS Dhoni made his captaincy debut in international cricket.

Dhoni captained India for the first time in the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. The wicket-keeper batsman's first match as skipper against Scotland was abandoned due to rain on September 12 and he took the field as captain against Pakistan on September 14.

The 38-year-old made noise for all the right reasons as he led India to a famous victory in the T20 World Cup.

As 12 years have gone by since Dhoni's captaincy debut, netizens took to Twitter to laud the former skipper and started #12YearsofCaptainDhoni as one of the top hashtag trends in India.

"Definition of the Leadership explained in this Quote. Whenever we win, Captain DHONI loved to send the performer to meet the media, Whenever we lost, he himself went out to face the media" - RP Singh #12YearsOfCaptainDhoni," one fan tweeted.

"Every time there is a FAN BREACH, My initial thought is when is my turn gonna come, Our IDOL Our WORLD, WAITING to see you soon on the field #12YearsOfCaptainDhoni," another fan tweeted.

"THE CAPTAIN OF THE CAPTAINS, THE CAPTAIN COOL #12yearsofcaptaindhoni," one Twitter user commented.

"He changed the phase of Indian cricket true legend #12YearsOfCaptainDhoni," said another.

"Dhoni Era started from here #12YearsOfCaptainDhoni," another Twitter user said.

During his captaincy, Dhoni became the only skipper in the world to win all major ICC trophies -- 50-over World Cup, 20-over World Cup and Champions Trophy. He also led India to the number one ranking in the Test format.

For a long time, he remained the most successful Indian Test skipper as he had 27 wins from 60 matches. His record was recently broken by Virat Kohli as he recorded his 28th win in the format.

India won their second 50-over World Cup final in 2011 and in the finals Dhoni had played a match-winning knock of 91 runs.

However, in the same year, he had to face 0-4 losses against England and Australia.

Then in 2013, India lifted the Champions Trophy as the side defeated England in the finals.

In 2014, during the team's tour to Australia, Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket.

Dhoni finally hung his captaincy boots in the limited-overs format in 2017 and Virat Kohli took over the charge from him.

Of late, the wicket-keeper batsman has struggled to score runs at a brisk pace and many people have been questioning his place in the side.

The former skipper is currently not a part of India squad and he won't be taking the field against South Africa in the upcoming T20I series.