Picture Credit: Twitter
'Captain Cool' MS Dhoni has turned 40 on Wednesday. Dhoni, who is considered as a legend in the cricket fraternity, has seen everything from lows to highs during his international career spanning around 15 years. The wicketkeeper-batsman brought different dimension to cricket by giving emphasis on fitness for team selection during his captaincy tenure. His ability to grasp a particular situation and reading about players on field has made him a match winner over the years.
Let us have a look at seven stats to show why MS Dhoni is a legend of the game:
50 - MS Dhoni was the first player to reach 10,000 ODI runs at a staggering average of 50-plus in the format. Though Dhoni played majority of the matches in middle-order, he still managed to score 10,000 runs.
200 - MS Dhoni was the first Indian batsman to smash more than 200 sixes in both ODIs and in IPL. Many others who have batted at top-order haven't achieved the milestone before him and this better speaks about the capability of Dhoni's hard-hitting.
3 - During those 3 years in 2009, 2010 & 2011, Dhoni was winning almost every tournament as a captain he played across all 3 formats (Tests/ODIs/T20Is). He for the first time brought India as number 1 team in Test Rankings, won Test series in New Zealand, IPL 2010, Asia Cup 2010, Champions League T20 2010, ODI World Cup 2011, IPL 2011 and so on.
350 - Despite making his debut at the age of 23, MS Dhoni managed to play 350 ODI matches consistently for over 15 years without getting dropped from the XI and he never faced any issues regarding fitness despite playing Indian T20 League and other formats over the years. His longevity of playing 350 ODI games which is 2nd highest for an Indian player after Tendulkar shows why he is one of the greatest players in this format
9 - MS Dhoni won 9 knockout matches in ICC tournaments which is the most for any captain. From WT20 2007 to WT20 2014, Dhoni won 8 knockout matches consecutively without a loss.
Most wins as captain in ICC knockout matches:
MS Dhoni - 9
Ricky Ponting - 8
Brian Lara/Clive Lloyd - 5
Number of ICC knockout games won by India :
Under MS Dhoni's captaincy - 9
Under all other Indian captains - 9
183* - MS Dhoni's unbeaten 183 in 2005 was the highest score in ODIs during a successful run-chase at that time. Only 3 players had managed to score 150 plus in ODIs while batting 2nd in a successful run-chase till that time.
Highest ODI score while batting 2nd in successful run-chase (till Oct, 2005):
MS Dhoni - 183* vs SL, 2005
Brian Lara - 153 vs Pak, 1993
Sanath Jayasuriya - 151* vs Ind, 1997
10 - MS Dhoni as captain led his IPL team to semi-finals or playoffs in 10 out of 12 seasons which remains to be highest for any captain.
Leading an IPL side to playoffs/semi-finals most times:
MS Dhoni - 10 (2008-15, 2018 & 2019)
Rohit Sharma - 6 (2013-15, 2017, 2019 & 2020)
Gautam Gambhir -5 (2011,2012, 2014, 2016 & 2017)
