Following his good one-day form against Sri Lanka, Dhoni replaced Dinesh Karthik in December 2005 as the Indian Test wicket-keeper.[45] Dhoni scored 30 runs in his debut match that was marred by rain. Dhoni came to the crease when the team was struggling at 109/5 and as wickets kept falling around him, he played an aggressive innings and was the last man dismissed.[46] Dhoni made his maiden half-century in the second Test and his quick scoring rate (half century came off 51 balls) aided India to set a target of 436 and the Sri Lankans were bowled out for 247.[47]
India toured Pakistan in January/February 2006 and Dhoni scored his maiden century in the second Test at Faisalabad. India were left in a tight spot as Dhoni was joined by Irfan Pathan with the team still 107 away from avoiding follow-on. Dhoni played his typical aggressive innings as he scored his maiden test century in just 93 balls after scoring his first fifty in just 34 deliveries.[48]
Dhoni followed his maiden test century with some prosaic batting performances over the next three matches, one against Pakistan that India lost and two against England that had India holding a 1-0 lead going into the test match. Dhoni was the top scorer in India's first innings in the third test at Wankhede Stadium as his 64 aided India post a respectable 279 in reply to England's 400. However Dhoni and the Indian fielders dropped too many catches and missed many dismissal chances including a key stumping opportunity of Andrew Flintoff (14).[49] Dhoni failed to collect the Harbhajan Singh delivery cleanly as Flintoff went on to make 36 more runs as England set a target of 313 for the home team, a target that India were never in the reckoning. A batting collapse saw the team being dismissed for 100 and Dhoni scored just 5 runs and faced criticism for his wicket-keeping lapses as well as his shot selections.
On the West Indies tour, Dhoni scored a quick and aggressive 69 in the first Test at Antigua. The rest of the series was unremarkable for Dhoni as he scored 99 runs in the remaining 6 innings but his wicket-keeping skills improved and Dhoni finished the series with 13 catches and 4 stumpings. In the test series in South Africa, Dhoni's scores of 34 and 47 were not sufficient to save the second test against the Proteas as India lost the test series 2-1, squandering the chance to build on their first ever Test victory in South Africa (achieved in the first Test match). Dhoni's bruised hands ruled him out of the third test match.[50]
| ODI career records by opposition | |||||||||
| # | Opponent | Matches | Runs | Average | High Score | 100s | 50s | Catches | Stumping |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Africa XI[54] | 3 | 174 | 87.00 | 139* | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 2 | Australia | 9 | 222 | 37.00 | 58 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| 3 | Bangladesh | 6 | 146 | 36.50 | 93* | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6 |
| 4 | Bermuda | 1 | 29 | 29.00 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | England | 13 | 359 | 32.63 | 96 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 3 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 3 | 50 | 25.00 | 37* | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 7 | Pakistan | 13 | 542 | 60.22 | 148 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 1 |
| 8 | Scotland | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 9 | South Africa | 10 | 196 | 24.50 | 55 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| 10 | Sri Lanka | 16 | 490 | 61.25 | 183* | 1 | 2 | 17 | 3 |
| 11 | West Indies | 13 | 317 | 39.62 | 62* | 0 | 2 | 10 | 2 |
| 12 | Zimbabwe | 2 | 123 | 123.00 | 67* | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 90 | 2648 | 44.13 | 183* | 3 | 16 | 85 | ||
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