5 Times when Indian youngsters surprised the opposition

3. MS Dhoni against Pakistan, 2005

In 2005, India hosted Pakistan for the Pepsi Cup ODI Series. After a poor run against Bangladesh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was given yet another chance with the Indian team. The first game of the series was a big disappointment for MS Dhoni as he scored 3 runs from 7 balls and rumors started spreading that time has come for Dhoni to bid adieu to the India team.

 The Second ODI of the series took place at Dr. Y.S.R. ACA VDA Cricket Stadium, Vishakhapatnam. Winning the toss, India decided to bat first. Virender Sehwag, playing to his character, started hitting from the very first ball. In the 4th over, India lost Sachin Tendulkar at 26 runs.

Having failed miserably in his first 5 outings, MS Dhoni walked to the crease at number 3. Dhoni started off with a bit of a nervous intent but Sehwag continued to play his shots. But soon, he started complementing Sehwag with his shots. Sehwag and Dhoni brought up the team’s fifty in just 6 overs.

Frustrated with the constant hitting, the Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq brought Shahid Afridi in the 9th over. Dhoni smacked Afridi to all parts of the ground. The duo was on the brink of a 100-run partnership before Sehwag was removed Naved-ul-Hasan for 74. But Dhoni continued to hit boundaries. He put up a partnership of 149 runs with Rahul Dravid before Mohammad Hafeez removed him.

Dhoni scored 148 runs from 123 deliveries at a strike rate of 120.33. His favorite target in the game was Shahid Afridi. Afridi gave away 82 runs in his 9 overs. Later on, the tail chipped in with some handy quick runs and India managed to score 356 runs in their allocated 50 overs. Naved-ul-Hasan was the standout bowler for Pakistan with 3 wickets from 10 overs.

In the end, India bowled out Pakistan for 298 runs and managed to win the game by a margin of 58 runs, taking a lead of 2-0 in the six-match series. Ashish Nehra took 4 wickets for India. Abdul Razzaq was the highest scorer for Pakistan with 88 runs. For his brilliant batting, Dhoni was awarded the man of the match.