As bizarre it may sound veteran MS Dhoni managed to break Sri Lanka’s legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan’s record with his bat. Muralitharan had a batting record to his name until August 24, 2017. Muralitharan held the record of most number of not outs in international cricket’s history. This includes Tests, ODIs and T20Is, where he had 56, 63 and 2 not outs in the respective formats, totalling up to 119. But Dhoni managed to break his record of 119 not outs with a gem of an innings against Sri Lanka in the first ODI which infused energy into a rather one-sided tour of India.
Dhoni’s new record
Dhoni’s unbeaten 45 helped him surpass Muralitharan’s record and post his 120th not out score. Dhoni is by far has the most number of not outs in ODIs, 71. He has 16 and 33 unbeaten innings in Tests and T20Is respectively. This gives an idea of why he is arguably called the ‘best finisher’ in ODI cricket.
It was a treat to what Dhoni put on a fine display of his finishing skills against Sri Lanka as he snatched the win out from the hosts’ grip. After a massacre-like bowling spell from Akila Dananjaya who took 6 wickets in his spell demolishing the Indian batting order, it was Dhoni who remained ‘cool as a cucumber’ and took charge of the innings.
Though Dhoni got a bit lucky in his inning, watch the video here-
— Virat Kohli (@Cricvids1) August 24, 2017
His unbeaten 45 of 68 balls was no less important than hitting a century. It was a crucial inning from him under the circumstances and that too with minimum risk involved. He scored just one boundary in his inning and helped Bhuvneshwar Kumar score his maiden ODI fifty which will be remembered for a long time.
It was a double-record day for Dhoni who equalled the record of most stumpings held by former Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara. He holds this record now as he was able to achieve it in a fewer number of innings.
