He is one of the most charismatic captains in contemporary cricket.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni started off as a stop-gap captain, leading India for the first time in a Test against South Africa at Kanpur in 2007-08.

India was trailing in the series 0-1 after two Tests, but he won the Test on captaincy debut and India levelled the series. Since then he hasn't looked back.

Known as the 'Man with the Midas touch', Dhoni enjoys a record most captains would love to replicate. Under him, India is yet to lose a series.

Following are the series in which Dhoni led India in at least two matches.

+ captained only in the last Test of the series.

#  the series comprised four matches, but Dhoni captained only in second and fourth. Kumble captained in first and third.

$ the series comprised three matches, but Dhoni captained only in two (first & third). Sehwag captained in the second Test.

* Dhoni captained India in only the second Test, Sehwag captained in the first.

After 16 Tests, Dhoni's winning percentage stands at 62.50, which is the joint third highest for any captain in Test cricket (having captained his respective side in 15 or more matches).

Most successful captains in Test cricket

	Mts	Won	Lost	Drawn/Tied	Won%
S Waugh (Aus)	57	41	9	7	71.93
RT Ponting (Aus)	71	47	12	12	66.20
DG Bradman (Aus)	24	15	3	6	62.50
MS Dhoni (Ind)	16	10	2	4	62.50
DR Jardine (Eng)	15	9	1	5	60.00
FMM Worrell (WI)	15	9	3	2/1	60.00

India's run chase in the third and final Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo was the fourth largest fourth innings target successfully chased by India. Out of India's five largest successful chases, three have come since 2000.

Highest fourth innings successful chases for India

VVS Laxman became only the fourth Indian to score a century in the fourth innings of a Test for a winning cause, joining the ranks with Gundappa Viswanath, Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar.

The following table lists Indian batsmen's highest scores in the fourth innings of a Test, which India went on to win.

Highest scores in the fourth innings for a winning cause

Suresh Raina ended the match in style with a six off Welegedara. He thus became only the third Indian to accomplish the feat of finishing a Test match on winning note with a six.

Interestingly, in the first Test of the just-concluded series, in Galle, Dilshan had hit a six off Harbhajan to win the match for Sri Lanka.

Indian batsmen winning a Test with a six