MS Dhoni pips Rhodes, Inzamam, Ponting with 40 not outs in successful ODI chases

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been an extremely successful finisher for India over the years in limited-overs cricket but his ability seems to be fading as he is in the twilight of his career. But the veteran has proven his worth again in the same role in the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka. In the process, Dhoni has also added another feather to his cap with the most number of not outs in successful ODI chases.

The former captain ‘cool’ scored 67 and remained unbeaten till the end to pick up the winning run once again in the chase. Dhoni remained not out for the 121st time in his One-Day International career and 40th time in successful ODI chases. The 36-year-old backed his calm innings in the second ODI with yet another composed one which saw India chase a tricky total comprehensively.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) also acknowledged the feat on otheir official twitter handle. The tweet read, “Most unbeaten innings in successful ODI run chases: 40 – MS Dhoni, 33 – Jonty Rhodes, 32 – Inzamam-ul-Haq, 31 – Ricky Ponting#howzstat.”

Dhoni becomes 4th highest run getter for India

Mahendra Singh Dhoni came to the crease when Team India was in deep in trouble with Akila Dananjaya threatening to take the game away. He weathered his spell along with opener Rohit Sharma and then rotated the strike sensibly allowing the set batsman to dominate the proceedings. That helped the team stay on the right track and in sight of victory. In the process of this cool innings, the wicketkeeper-batsman got past Mohammad Azharuddin in the list of highest run getter for India.

Dhoni now is the 4th highest run scorer for India with 9608 runs with an average of over 51. He is now only behind India’s ‘big three’ Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. All the stalwarts have scored more than 10000 runs and the former captain is also expected to get past 10k landmark given that he has intentions to continue playing till 2019 World Cup.