MS Dhoni set to become the first player to feature in 7 IPL finals

The Rising Pune Supergiant stunned the Mumbai Indians in their own backyard in the Qualifier 1 of the IPL 10. It was a superlative effort from the team that now sees them as the first finalist of the season. The win has become all the way merrier for the fact that the crowd-favorite MS Dhoni enthralled the audiences with his spectacular run show on the night. Dhoni clobbered 5 sixes during his stay at the crease that yielded 40 runs off mere 26 deliveries.

Now, the Rising Pune Supergiant will compete in the finals of the tournament for the first time. They will face off against the winners of the Qualifier 2 on May 21. With the final, MS Dhoni will become the first person to feature in the finals of the tournament for a record number of times. His appearance on May 21 will be his 7th in the tournament history.

On the previous 6 occasions, he had led the Chennai Superkings in the finals of the IPL. He saw his team finish on the losing side in the finals of the inaugural edition of the tournament against Rajasthan Royals in 2008. In the next season, CSK finished as the semi-finalists. In the next four seasons, the team managed to make it to the finals on every occasion.

They won twice under the leadership of MS Dhoni and lost twice during that phase. Also, the only time Dhoni did not feature in the playoffs was in the 2016 edition when his franchise, Rising Pune Supergiant, finished at number 7 in the league stages.

In all, he has been a part of 10 finals of the T20 tournaments thus far, which includes the IPL finals and the World T20s as well. The finals of the IPL 2017 will be his 11th appearance in the finals of the T20 championship.

MS Dhoni’s finals in T20 cricket:

ICC World T20 2007, ICC World T20 2014, IPL 2008, IPL 2010, IPL 2011, IPL 2012, IPL 2013, IPL 2015, IPL 2017*, CLT20 2010, Asia Cup 2016.

*yet to feature.