India At Paris Olympics 2024: How an MS Dhoni fan Swapni Kusale won the historic Bronze medal for India
Today the country is saluting Swapnil Kusale for winning bronze in shooting at the Paris Olympics 2024 but do you know he is actually an MS Dhoni fan and has been a ticket collector in the past himself?
Swapnil Kusale, this name has become immortal in the history of Indian sports. Swapnil created history by winning a bronze in the men's 50m Rifle 3P event at the Paris Olympics 2024, becoming the only Olympic medal winner in this category. Today the country is saluting Swapnil Kusale but do you know he is actually an MS Dhoni fan and has been a ticket collector in the past himself?
Swapnil said that he gets inspiration from cricket legend MS Dhoni as both of them were railway ticket collectors in their early career. "I love how MS Dhoni stays calm under pressure. I always wanted to bring that to my game."
Kusale, who won the third medal for the country, has been participating in international competitions since 2012, but he had to wait for 12 more years to make his debut at the Olympics. It is very important to be calm and patient for shooting, and these qualities are also found in abundance in MS Dhoni. So it's no surprise that Kusale feels connected to Dhoni's life story.
'I admire Dhoni for the person that he is'
"I don't follow anyone specific in the shooting world. Outside of that, I admire Dhoni for the person that he is. My sport requires me to be as calm and patient as he is on the field. I also relate to his story as I am a ticket collector like he was," Kusale after winning the bronze at the men's 50m Rifle 3P event.
From Railway Ticket Collector to Global Pride: Swapnil Kusale's Journey.
Kusale, who is 'cool' like Dhoni, watched the film 'MS Dhoni The Untold Story' made on the World Cup-winning cricket captain several times.
Kusale's performance towards bronze
Swapnil Kusale made it to the finals with a total score of 590. He scored 198 in kneeling, 197 in prone and 195 in standing. On Thursday too, Kusale lived up to millions of expectations of India and won a medal for the country.
At one point in the finals, Kusale had slipped to sixth place. But instead of disintegrating under pressure, the Indian shooter raised his game. He slowly started rising in the tally. For some time, Swapnil was seen stuck at number five. After this, he came at number four and then reached number three.
Kusale won the bronze with 451.4 points. China's Liu Yukun won gold with 463.6 points. Ukraine's shooter Serhiy Kulish (461.3), who was facing the horrors of war, won the silver medal.
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the first medal in shooting for India in the Olympics in 2004. He won this medal in the Athens Olympics. However, Indian shooters have compensated for the failure of the last few years by winning 3 medals in the Paris Olympics. Now if one gold comes then it will be icing on the cake.
From Virat Kohli, the captain with highest test wins, to Rohit Sharma, who carried the successful legacy till his retirement, discover the most successful Test captains from India.
The journey of successful Indian captains have been remarkable over the years. The nation has got exceptional leaders who shaped the landscape of Test cricket for India.
It is now time to look back at those victories brought to us by the Indian team under such efficient captains. Here are the most successful Test captains from India.
1. Virat Kohli (40 wins)
Virat Kohli during his Test captaincy for the Indian team in 2021. Image | Instagram
Virat Kohli is considered to be the most successful Test captain India could ever get! He had a stellar career as a captain from 2014 to 2022. Under his captaincy, India became aggressively dominant in home and held a streak of never losing or drawing a single home series.
Kohli secured 40 wins out of 68 tests, which is the highest as an Indian captain. He also holds the record for most double centuries by an Indian in Test cricket, with a total of 7 double centuries.
India has had several quality test batters, but there is no other captain who could match King Kohli's legacy.
MS Dhoni during his captaincy for the Indian cricket team. Image | ESPNcricinfo
MS Dhoni served as a Test captain for six years for India, and had a stellar career. He holds the record for most number of sixes by an Indian captain, which is 51 in number.
Under Dhoni's captaincy, India won 27 tests out of 60, having a win percentage of 45%.
Dhoni's test stats as captain:
Span
Matches
Won
Lost
Draw
Runs
100
W/L
W%
%L
2008-2014
60
27
18
15
3,454
5
1.50
45.00
30.00
3. Sourav Ganguly (21 wins)
Sourav Ganguly during his captaincy for the Indian team. Image | NDTV
Sourav Ganguly, who is widely known for his contributions as a player and captain for the Indian team, is a prominent name in this list of most successful Test captains from India.
Dada was the Indian test captain from 2000-2005 and won 21 testsout of 49 played. He also holds the 2nd position for record most wins as a test captain overseas, winning 11 out of 28 matches.
Mohammad Azharuddin during his captaincy tenure for India. Image | Facebook
Mohammad Azharuddin is another big name to be mentioned when it comes to Test cricket captaincy for India. He served as a captain for 9 years, winning 14 matches out of 47.
Azharuddin mostly enjoyed dominating in home soil and sealing crucial victories for the team.
Mohammad Azharuddin's test stats as captain:
Span
Matches
Won
Lost
Draw
Runs
100
W/L
W%
%L
1990-1999
47
14
14
19
2,856
9
1.00
29.78
29.78
5. Rohit Sharma (12 wins)
Rohit Sharma during his test captaincy for the Indian team. Image | India Today
Rohit Sharma is another name for one of the most successful Test captains from India who led to 10+ victories for the team. He is the 5th captain to do so. He was also one of the most impactful opener for India in tests.
Even though Rohit's captaincy tenure was short-lived, as he decided to retire from test format on 7th May, 2025, he still managed to be on top with 12 wins in 24 matches.
MS Dhoni holds the record for most wins after 76 games as captain in IPL history with 46 wins. Check out the other phenomenal captains who led their teams to victory.
In a competitive league like the IPL, the role of the captain is extremely important. Here we are about to spotlight the skippers who did not just lead from the front, but also tasted victory.
We have some renowned names for the most wins after 76 games as captain in the IPL.
MS Dhoni (46 wins after 76 games)
MS Dhoni carrying the IPL trophy after leading CSK to their fourth IPL victory in 2021. Image | BBC
Focusing on the most wins after 76 games in IPL, MS Dhoni is a clear winner. He captained 2 teams, Chennai Super Kings and Rising Pune Supergiants, in the span of 2008-2025.
Dhoni holds a record of 46 wins after 76 games in IPL which is the highest so far. He also played the most number of matches as a captain (231 matches) and won 134 among them, with a win percentage of 58%.
Rohit Sharma lifitng the IPL trophy as MI's captain for the 5th time in IPL 2020. Image | Pinterest
Rohit Sharma is another big name that comes to everyone's mind when we track captaincy record in IPL, who also happens to level Dhoni's record of 46 wins after 76 games. He served as a captain for Mumbai Indians from 2013 to 2023.
The five-times IPL winning captain has played a total of 158 matches and won 87 as the skipper, with a win percentage of 56%.
He led Kolkata Knight Riders to lift the IPL 2024 trophy with his magnificent captaincy throughout the season. He also helped DC reached their first IPL final as a captain in IPL 2019. Shreyas is yet again doing a pretty commendable job as a captain for PBKS in IPL 2025.
Iyer has 44 wins after 76 games under his name as a captain and is set to win more.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the five-time IPL Champions have not been able to perform the way it was expected from them in this year's IPL, which is why CSK is at the bottom of the points table, and this shows CSK's struggles in IPL 2025.
CSK's struggles in IPL 2025 leads them to the bottom of the points table in IPL 2025
Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the five-time IPL Champions known for their consistency and tactical moves which usually leads them to success, find themselves in an unfamiliar position this season. CSK is at the bottom of the points table with just 2 wins out of their 9 matches, marking their worst IPL season till date.
The main reasons of CSK’s struggles in IPL 2025 are a combination of poor auction strategy, some important players getting injured, very weak & out of form batting line-up, horrible fielding performances, and being unable to find a proper & effective playing 11 combination despite playing half of their matches in IPL 2025.
From the Auction Table only, CSK’s management started making mistakes by failing to grab impactful players who could fill the gaps in their squad.
Instead of investing in young and in-form players, the management made some confusing choices by buying mediocre players with poor form like Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, and Vijay Shankar, especially with a few key players nearing the end of their careers like Ravichandran Ashwin.
Former CSK great, also known as “Mr. IPL”, Suresh Raina has publicly criticised CSK’s poor auction strategy by pointing out the missed opportunities to buy match-winning players like KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Faf Du Plessis, etc., due to a lack of funds.
While other franchises focused on acquiring young and dynamic talent, CSK appeared to rely heavily on their tried-and-tested players like Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Sam Curran, etc., who are unable to perform in crucial situations for CSK in IPL 2025.
CSK’s management overlooked many promising domestic and overseas players who have been performing nicely in other T20 leagues, which resulted in a poor out-of-form bunch of players.
Some auction picks like Noor Ahmad and Khaleel Ahmed were great buys for CSK in IPL 2025, as these 2 players are performing really well and clinching wickets on a regular basis.
Batting Collapses in almost every match has been one of the reasons of CSK's struggles in IPL 2025
CSK’s batting has been one of the weakest in this season. Their top-order batsmen like Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, and Ruturaj Gaikwad have failed to perform consistently, and batted with a very low strike-rate in power-play which leads the team one step backwards from the start of the game.
The middle-order batsmen like Deepak Hooda, Shivam Dubey, and Vijay Shankar have failed to capitalize in the middle overs, and batted with a slow strike rate, and poor shot selection, which made most of their chases or first innings totals look below par.
Even their reliable lower order batters or finishers like Ravindra Jadeja and Mahendra Singh Dhoni haven't been able to rescue them as they are also out of form and being overburdened with responsibility. So, the lack of a proper finisher is glaring.
Some young and new batters of CSK like Shaik Rasheed, Ayush Mhatre, and Dewald Brewis who got a chance to play from the previous 2-3 matches have performed nicely and played exceptionally well and showed potential that they can be the future stars of CSK.
After the recent loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad, MS Dhoni highlighted the problems because of which CSK is continuously losing matches this season.
His words were, “In a tournament like this, if there are one or two areas to plug in the holes, then it's good, but when a majority of the players are not doing well, then you need to make changes. You can’t just keep going. We are just not putting enough runs on the board”, while addressing the post-match presentation.
(3) Poor Fielding and Catch Drops at Crucial Moment
CSK have dropped the most catches so far in IPL 2025
CSK’s fielding, which was a strength for them earlier, has been horrible this year. CSK has dropped 13-14 catches in IPL 2025 till now which is most by any team this season and after these catch drops of important players at crucial moments, all those players scored a good number of runs and lead their respective teams to a very good total or chased the runs made by CSK.
In a highly competitive league like the IPL, every run saved with a good fielding effort makes a difference and creates pressure on the opposition, but CSK has failed to do this in this IPL season, which is one of the reasons for CSK’s struggles in IPL 2025.
MS Dhoni’s wicket-keeping skills is the only thing which deserves appreciation when CSK is fielding. At the age of 43, Dhoni’s wicket-keeping is still lethal with lightning-fast stumping and very smooth ball receiving technique.
CSK’s bowling has also been very outstanding this season. Bowlers of CSK, like Khaleel Ahmed and Noor Ahmad, have taken crucial wickets continuously. They have been able to create chances with their effective bowling, but the fielders were not able to grab those chances and take advantage of them.
Ruturaj Gaikwad has been ruled out of IPL 2025 because of injury and Devon Conway have returned to New Zealand
Ruturaj Gaikwad, the Captain of CSK, got injured and was ruled out of this IPL, which made the CSK batting line-up very weak and inexperienced. Devon Conway has to return to New Zealand because his father passed away.
After Gaikwad’s exclusion from the playing 11 because of an unfortunate injury, MS Dhoni has again become the Captain of CSK and Ayush Mhatre has been signed by the CSK management as a replacement for Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Poor Batting Performance and Horrible Display of Fielding shows CSK's struggles in IPL 2025
After losing 7 out of 9 matches, and with 5 games left, only CSK’s qualifying chances for IPL 2025 Play-offs are practically gone. Even MS Dhoni seems to be looking ahead to next season, as after their recent loss to Mumbai Indians, Dhoni highlighted the importance of getting a secured playing XI for the next year, while addressing the post-match presentation.
As the season progresses, one thing is clear: CSK's struggles in IPL 2025 serve as a reminder that even the most successful teams need to evolve and adapt to the current playing style to stay competitive.
If CSK wants to bounce back next season, they need figure out what went wrong in 2025 and correct those things as soon as possible. The auction errors, poor on-field execution, poor display of batting & fielding, and over-reliance on aging players have all contributed to a season they’ll want to forget.
The Chennai Super Kings have built a legacy over the years. But this year, that legacy has taken a hit and only a superb comeback in the next season of IPL can earn them their respect again which CSK deserves, and as we all know that CSK is also known as the Comeback Super Kings so every CSK fan will pray for their team’s strong comeback in the next season of IPL.
Welcome to our live coverage of the ISSF World Cup 2025, currently underway in Lima, Peru, from April 13 to 22, 2025.
In this LIVE blog we will update you with medal tally, India's results across compettions on daily basis.
On day 1 of the ISS World Cup 2025, India’s Suruchi Singh clinched her second consecutive gold in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol, while Manu Bhaker secured silver.
Saurabh Chaudhary added a bronze in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol.
The pair of Saurabh Chaudhary and Suruchi Singh went on to win the Gold medal in the 10m mixed pistol event on day 2.
Stay tuned for more updates as the world’s top shooters, including Olympic champions, battle for podium finishes at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in Peru.
LIVE Updates
Apr 18, 2025, 4:33 PM
LIVE Medal Tally
Rank
Nation
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
1
United States (USA)
3
2
1
6
2
India (IND)
2
1
1
4
3
China (CHN)
1
1
3
5
4
Czech Republic (CZE)
1
1
0
2
5
Norway (NOR)
0
2
0
2
6
Brazil (BRA)
0
0
1
1
7
Hungary (HUN)
0
0
1
1
Apr 16, 2025, 9:48 PM
SAURABH & SURUCHI WIN THE GOLD
Saurabh Chaudhary and Suruchi Singh defeated the People's Republic of China's Yao Qianxun and Hu Kai in the final of the 10m air pistol mixed team event to win the gold.
The Indian pair scored 17 in the final match. This was India's fourth medal at the Lima ISSF World Cup 2025.
Apr 16, 2025, 11:22 AM
Men’s 10m air pistol: Saurabh Chaudhary wins bronze
Saurabh Chaudhary, won his first individual World Cup medal in almost three years after scoring 219.1 in the men's 10m air pistol event.
The Indian shooter had finished seventh in qualification with a score of 578 to make the final.
China’s Hu Kai won gold with a score of 246.4 and Brazil’s Felipe Almeida Wu clinched silver with a score 241.0.
Apr 16, 2025, 11:20 AM
Women’s 10m air pistol: Suruchi Singh and Manu Bhaker win medals for India
Suruchi Singh, the 18-year-old shooter stunned everyone by scoring 243.6 to beat her Indian counterpart Manu Bhaker, a two-time Olympic medallist, for the gold.
Manu scored 242.3 to grab the silver medal. People’s Republic of China’s Yao Qianxun won the bronze medal with 219.5.
Suruchi also shot 244.6 to win the gold medal in Buenos Aires last week to win her first Senior World Cup medal.
Former CSK captain MS Dhoni has entered history books again with a rare achievement as wicketkeeper. He completed 200 dismissals as a keeper in IPL, a feat that places him on top of the list of most dismissals in IPL history . He reached this historic number during CSK’s match against LSG in IPL 2025. Dhoni’s 200th dismissal came when he stumped Ayush Badoni, showing once again why he’s still one of the best, even at the age of 43.
Let's take a look at the wicketkeepers with most dismissals in IPL history.
Most Dismissals in IPL
5. Wriddhiman Saha | 118
Wriddhiman Saha is known for his clean glovework and quick reflexes. While he may not be as loud or flashy as some other players, his wicketkeeping skills are among the finest in IPL history. He holds the fifth position in this list. Wriddhiman owns 118 dismissals in IPL. He affected 113 dismissals with the wicket-keeping gloves.
4. Robin Uthappa | 124
Robin Uthappa was a utility player who often switched between being a specialist batsman and wicketkeeper. His flexibility across multiple roles has been one of his major strengths. He ranks fourth in the list of most dismissals in IPL history. Uthappa owns 124 dismissals in IPL. He affected 90 dismissals with the wicket-keeping gloves.
3. AB de Villiers | 126
AB de Villiers has the most fielding dismissals by an overseas player in the IPL. He trails Karthik with 126 dismissals. As a wicket-keeper, de Villiers registered 36 dismissals, a tally that has 28 catches and eight stumpings.
De Villiers, who was once the heartbeat of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, racked up 5,162 runs at a strike-rate of over 150 in the IPL.
2. Dinesh Karthik | 182
Dinesh Karthik, who represented a host of franchises in the IPL, follows Dhoni on this elite list. He owns 182 such dismissals.
In an IPL career that spanned 16 years, Karthik affected 174 dismissals with the wicket-keeping gloves. His tally includes 137 catches and 37 stumpings. In 2024, Karthik retired with 4,842 runs in the cash-rich league.
In his 271st IPL appearance, Dhoni breached the 200-dismissal mark by successfully completing his counterpart Rishabh Pant’s catch in the final over as LSG packed their innings on 166/7. The seasoned wicketkeeper batter boasts 201 dismissals, consisting of 155 catches and 46 stumpings.
Dhoni is now the only player to have registered 200 fielding dismissals in the IPL. His path to this incredible milestone features 197 dismissals as a wicket-keeper. He owns 151 catches and 46 stumpings with the gloves.
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