Dhoni's Triple Crown

By winning the recent Champions Trophy in England Mahendra Singh Dhoni becomes the only Captain in Cricket History to have led his team to all three ICC limited over tournaments, the Traditional World Cup, the ICC Champions Trophy and the Twenty20 Championship and thus acheiving an enviable triple crown of wins.

If you add to this the fact that India reached No. 1 and remained No. 1 in Test Cricket for nearly two years under his leadership, you get a sense of the place he will be accorded in the Pantheon of Indian cricket. 

That he was able to win the ICC Champions trophy while his team, and he himself were under tremendous pressure from the Indian media, if not the fans per se, over the multiple scandals or so called scandals related to the IPL, and in foreign conditions, in England where his last visit was an unmitigated disaster in all formats of the game, speaks volumes of the type of person he is.  He is a great leader of men.  He is the one who doesn't lose his head, when all those around him are losing theirs.  He is almost Arjun like in his equanimity in the face of victory or defeat and that gives his teammates the room to be fearless, where the more tempramental would be fearful.

Yes, the back to back overseas Test series whitewashes where India were blanked 0-4 in England and Australia are a blemish, even a major blemish, on his record as Captain, but the achievements in so many other areas surely make those more pardaonable. 

If and when he is able to lead India to Test series wins in South Africa and maybe even Australia in the future, he will seal his spot as the greatest Captain in the history of Indian Cricket.