Mahendra Singh Dhoni has retired from international cricket recently. Nasser Hussain termed him ‘the greatest limited-overs captain ever’, Sachin Tendulkar termed him ‘the best captain he has played under’. The love and respect earned by the wicket-keeper batsman in his 16 years career are extraordinary. He will always be known as the first captain to win all the ICC events.

When we think about Dhoni the first picture in our mind perpetually comes of him hitting that monstrous six over the cow corner in the Wankhede stadium on 2nd April 2011. His 91* against Sri Lanka in the final made India the World Champion again after a gap of 28 years. But his first trophy as a captain was World T20 2007, which is always overpowered.

It was the inaugural tournament of T20 format at the world stage. The format was new and India had played only a solitary T20I before that. Yet that win is never deemed as special as 2011 World Cup.

With due respect to the biggest cricketing event, 50 over World Cup, let’s have look how Dhoni’s captaincy was more influential in World T20 2007 than World Cup 2011:

1. New Format, New players

The T20 Internationals came into the picture for the first time in 2005. However, India played their first game in December 2006 when they played South Africa in its own backyard. When the World T20 was around the corner, Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly pulled out of the extravaganza as they wanted to give chance to the youngsters. Mahi was given the captaincy for his considerable knowledge of the game. The team had all the youngsters and few experienced players who were making their comeback.

The average age of the squad was 23 years. Some even said that India is sending a ‘B’ team for the inaugural tournament. But when the tournament started the game seem different. Dhoni was playing like a leader, the team had accepted him as a captain quite naturally. He made quite a good mixture of players with 5 batters, 4 bowlers and 1 bowling all-rounder with him as a keeper. It actually didn’t look like the Ranchi lad was leading a team which has zero experience for the latest form of cricket.

If we see the squad for the 2011 World Cup, the team was quite refined. Apart from a few faces, all had an experience of more than 5-6 years of international cricket. The average age of the squad was 27 years. There was not much for the stumper to do there, the team was already balanced and everyone knew their role perfectly.

2. Dark Horses, Big decisions and 2007 ODI World Cup woes

India was literally the Dark Horses of the tournament. From the first game till the finals, all the teams were more experienced than the subcontinent giant. The skipper himself said after winning the final, “No-one expected us to win and the way we played today we deserve a big celebration.”

Before the T20 exhibition, Team India got out in of the first round of the World Cup 2007. That phase is still known as one of the lowest phases of Indian cricket. After that tournament, the limited-overs picture changed, the way India used to play the game changed absolutely.

The former Indian captain was just 26 years old then. But some of his decisions in vital situations were quite impactful for Team India. Bowling Joginder Sharma in the last over of the final instead of Harbhajan Singh, asking Rohit Sharma to bat higher up the order instead of Dinesh Karthik against South Africa, the planned wicket of Kamran Akmal in the final and having a bowl-out simulation in the practice sessions are popular among them.

On the other hand, India was one of the favourites while going into the mega event in 2011. The team was also doing well from 2008-2011 and was not carrying any baggage at all. Most importantly, India was number 2 in ICC ODI rankings at the start of the tournament as well.

3. The tournament format

If we look closely, the format in the World Cup 2011 was rather easier as compared to 2007. To reach the quarter-finals India won 4 out of their 6 games. Out of those 4, West Indies was the only team that featured in the Top 8 teams in ICC rankings. The proper competition was actually given by South Africa and England and India didn’t win against either of them.

On the other hand, the format of World T20 2007 was rather more practical. India didn’t play any minnow through the tournament. The win against Pakistan came after a bowl out and after losing against New Zealand, the team was up for 4 continuous knock-out games. It also included a game against South Africa where India needed to win with a bigger margin to make the net run-rate better in order to qualify and they were again successful.

All the games India won except against England, almost went till the last ball. A skipper’s role is very important in such critical situations. The way Team India was able to pull out the magical tournament run, it was because of the wizard behind the stumps.

4. Foreign Conditions and team formula

Indian Team is always known as a home bully. All the captains are judged on the basis of how their team performs outside the home soil. The South African conditions were alien to the young Indian line up. Without any practice, the team balance was difficult to be formulated. Yet the Jharkhand stalwart was up for the challenge.

Playing Robin Uthappa at 3, putting Rohit Sharma into the middle order or fitting in Joginder Sharma in place of Ajit Agarkar. All these decisions were not bluffs especially for a country that was playing the format for the first time.

In the 2011 World Cup, the pitches were Indian. The management knew how 4 bowlers formula with work with Yuvraj Singh as a batting all-rounder. Also, the ODI format did give India a proper chance to hide the fact that India did not have a fifth bowler. The circumstances which require the fifth bowler desperately are the crunch games and India actually did not win any crunch game throughout their triumph run. Only two games went to the wire and India tied first and lost the second one.

The conclusion:

World Cup 2011 victory will always be counted as one of the most important wins for India. Their performance in the home conditions and the victory in the World Cup after 28 long years did give a cheerful moment to all the Indians.

But the way the most successful Indian captain led the team in 2007 was more influential as compared to the 2011 World Cup. The inexperienced and rookie players needed more guidance than the experienced campaigners. Also, the composure he showed in the crunch games showed the real magic the former skipper is known for.