A historical moment arrived when a former Indian captain ventured into Colombo’s Premadasa Stadium to play against Sri Lanka, he achieved a landmark which is only achieved so far by just six different Indians – it was 300th one-day international (ODI) match for MSD. Among those who is still playing cricket for India, just Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni have accomplished this feat.
MS Dhoni career of 13 years and counting is studded with remarkable achievement, from winning the inaugural edition of World Twenty-20 cup in 2007 for India to conquering the ODI World Cup in 2011 and becoming the first Indian wicket-keeper batsman to score double century in test cricket. The 36 year old is averaging 52 with the scintillating strike rate of 89 will give you fair idea why he considered as one of the best ODI player.
This India-Sri Lanka series was special for MSD particularly behind the stumps when he dislodged Akhila Dhananjaya he became the first wicket-keeper in the planet to score a century behind the stumps (by stumping).
The veteran wicket keeper has played the most numbers of ODI matches,only behind Kumar Sangakara, he had been tied with the Lankan Legend until he dismissed Dhanajaya in his 301st ODI match. The formidable wicket-keeper has dismissed 377 times in ODI matches through his catches and stumping, becoming only fourth wicket-keeper (behind the likes of Kumar Sangakara-482, Adam Gilchrist-472 and Mark Boucher-424) to achieve this feat. Dhoni’s 9,657 run at an average of 52.20 are the most by any Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, his astounding tally of 65 half-centuries is more than the melded number of half-centuries scored by every other Indian Wicket-keepers.
Dhoni’s remarkable career is blended with his great leadership skill and his ability to read the game in a full-fledged manner.
In 2007, when most seniors declined to play the first edition of Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, Dhoni was named the captain of a young group that went ahead to bag the title for India. Having tasted accomplishment as the T20 captain he went on to replicate his leadership skills as a skipper in the longer format of the game. Ms Dhoni is the only captain the cricketing history to win all three major ICC tournaments which includes World Cup(2011),T20 World Cup(2007) and Champions Trophy(2013).
Dhoni is a very tactical player, he has changed his approach to finish the match as he knows his hard hitting power is slackening so he transformed himself into a enforcer. He is averaging 101.84 ahead of Virat Kohli who is averaging 97.68 and Micheal Beaven from Australia whose average is 86.25 (minimum 1000 runs).
