Top 5 ODI knocks by MS Dhoni as captain

1. 91* v Sri Lanka at Mumbai, 2011 World Cup final:

2011 World Cup final, it couldn’t have been a bigger stage than that. At the back of a century from Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka posted a competitive total of 274. In a big final even 275 looks like a huge task considering the nerves involved.

Sachin-Sehwag departed early and Kohli got out after scoring getting a start at 35. Everyone expected Yuvraj Singh to walk in; he after all was India’s best player in the World Cup. Dhoni though, had a plan of his own as he promoted himself at No.5. He had a below average World Cup with his highest score being a meagre 34 against Ireland until that point, but Dhoni isn’t called the man of the big occasions for nothing.

He played delightful looking shots, slowly but surely batting Sri Lanka out of the game and not giving them any chance to stake a comeback into the game. Dhoni along with Gambhir took India to safety. When Gambhir departed for a well-crafted 97, India required 52 runs off 52 balls, quite doable when you have Yuvraj and Dhoni at the crease.

An Indian win looked inevitable when they required 5 from 2 overs. Yuvraj took a single and gave it to Dhoni, who on the next ball scored the most memorable six in for an Indian cricket fan as he won the World Cup for the cricket crazy nation that India is. His captaincy and batting that day was spot on. He deservedly won the Man of the Match award and in the form of a six over Nuwan Kulasekara’s head has given me a memory that most Indians will carry with them to the grave.