Mahendra Singh Dhoni: An old wine getting tastier with time

New Delhi: For a player like Mahendra Singh Dhoni,'actions speak louder than words', and the Cricket legend has proven the same from time to time whenever he was questioned.

The limited over heavyweight, Dhoni has turned into an old wine which is getting tastier with each passing day. His clinical performance with the bat and behind the wickets has proven that age is just a number.

When few people have doubt about his importance in the current Indian Cricket team, he has played his natural game. Following his own trend, he started his inning on a slow note and calmed India's nerves.

Run chases become easy with Dhoni's calmness and the helicopter shot discoverer displayed the same in the second and third ODI games against Sri Lanka.

Also read: Sri Lanka skipper Chamara Kapugedera unlikely to play in 4th ODI

In the second ODI, Dhoni along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar added 100 runs for the eighth wicket to cruise India to three-wicket victory. In third encounter against islanders, India was reduced to 62/4.

Then, he along with Rohit Sharma diffused the tense situation by applying every bit of his experience. The duo forged an unbeaten 157-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

MSD, who thrives in pressure situations, is gearing up to play his 300th One Day International to enter in the 300-ODI match club as fourth Indian.

The club is lead by Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar (363) who is followed by Rahul Dravid (344), Mohammad Azharuddin (334), Sourav Ganguly (311) and Yuvraj Singh (304).

Dhoni has also come as a valuable asset of skipper Virat Kohli. With ample of experience, he guides youngsters and rescues India from tough situations.

Here are some numbers of former India skipper that one should know:

• Dhoni has so far scored 9608 runs in 299 matches at an impressive average of 51.93. He has got 10 tons and 65 fifties to his name.
• Being the fourth highest run scorer in 50-over game, he is behind Tendulkar (18426), Ganguly (11221) and Dravid (10768).
• He is a best finisher for a reason as has record 40 unbeaten innings in successful ODI run chases.

• Together with Chaminda Vaas and Shaun Pollock, he shares the record for most not-outs (72) in ODIs.
• He has amassed maximum runs (3738) batting at number 6.
• He jointly shares the record of 99 ODI stumpings along with Kumar Sangakkara.