Current MS Dhoni is no less than an old wine!

Samarth Srivastava
Published on: 1 July 2017 1:15 PM GMT
Current MS Dhoni is no less than an old wine!
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Current MS Dhoni is no less than an old wine!

New Delhi: With his match-winning knock against West Indies, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has yet again shut the mouths of those who have been criticizing his batting skills in the recent times.

His clinical performance with the bat and behind the wickets has proven that age is just a number and he has turned into an old wine.

"It is like wine (about him getting better with age). I think we are not getting too much of an opportunity because the top-order has been batting really well in the last 1 and a half years. It feels good to go out there and score some runs," said MS Dhoni in a post-match presentation.

MSD's 79-ball 78-run inning on bowling-friendly pitch came when every other Indian batsman apart from Kedar Jadhav was struggling. His brilliance with the bat helped India post 251-run total and sent Windies on a leather hunt.

When few people have doubt about his importance in the current Indian Cricket team, he has played his natural game. He started his inning slowly and then launched insane hitting during the death overs. He drove, punched, swept and pulled with sheer confidence.

Also read: Dhoni, Yuvraj mentoring India after Kumble’s departure: Bangar

His 78-run knock, for which he was given Man of the Match award, was laced with four boundaries and two sixes.

The helicopter-shot discoverer had also gone past the record of Australian legend Adam Gilchrist in the run-scoring charts. He etched his name in the record-book as became second highest run scoring wicket-keeper batsman in the history of ODI Cricket.

In his 294 outings, Mahi has amassed 9,442 runs at an average of 51.31, surpassing Gilchrist who had scored 9,410 runs in 282 matches at an average of 35.64.

In the race of half-centuries also, Dhoni outclassed Gilchrist with his 113rd fifty against West Indies, the second most by any wicketkeeper batsman. Sangakkara leads the list with 140 half-centuries.

Kumar Sangakkara tops the list with mammonth 14,234 runs in 404 matches at an average of 41.99.

Another record broken by MSD was of hitting maximum sixes in ODIs. He registered his name in the third place with 322 sixes. He is behind Shahid Afridi (476) and Chris Gayle (434) in the list.

India will take on West Indies in the 3rd ODI on July 2. In order to use his bench strength, Virat Kohli has hinted of making few changes in the side.

Also read: BCCI extends Rahul Dravid’s coaching stint

Samarth Srivastava

Samarth Srivastava

Employed as sub-editor at newstrack.com. A learner, who loves covering sports, entertainment and defence kind of stuff.

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