MS Dhoni, born July 7, 1981, perhaps the most popular name in Indian cricket since Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni has some truly outstanding achievements to his name. Shiamak Unwalla lists out 10 stunning stats that highlight Dhoni’s genius.
1. World record runs at No. 6
No other batsman has scored more runs in ODIs at No. 6 than Dhoni. He currently has 3,626 runs at that position, which is 620 more than his closest competition — Michael Bevan. With Dhoni moving up the order, he might not add much to his tally at No. 6 in the matches ahead.
2. World record sixes in finishing matches
Dhoni has finished matches with a six on 9 occasions — a world record. Curiously, Dhoni has finished games against Sri Lanka with a six as many as 4 times. The most famous of these, of course, was the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
3. Highest batting average among captains who have played 100 ODIs
Among all captains who have led their side in at least 125 ODIs, Dhoni’s batting average of 53.92 is by far the best. Ricky Ponting (42.91) is a distant second. Ponting, however, has more runs.
4. World record for stumpings
Dhoni’s record of 158 stumpings across formats after Kumar Sangakkara (139).
5. Second-highest batting average among the 9,000 ODI runs club
Dhoni’s average of 51.32 is the second-best in ODIs of all batsmen with at least 9,000 runs but he is not far from breaking that record too as the number one position is held by AB de Villiers with the average of 53.55.
6. The Don Bradman of run-chases!
Among all batsmen who have been a part of at least 20 successful run chases, Dhoni’s astronomical average of 97.36 is marginally less than only Virat Kohli’s 97.97.
7. A general who has conquered everything in sight
Dhoni is the only captain to win a World T20, an ODI World Cup, a Champions Trophy, an IPL Trophy, a Champions League T20 trophy, an Asia Cup; he has also lead his side to the No. 1 rankings in both Tests and ODIs.
8. India’s most successful captain by a long way across formats
Dhoni is not only India’s most-capped captain across formats; he is also the most successful. He has won 27 Tests as captain, 6 more than his closest competitor Sourav Ganguly. In ODIs, he has led on 199 occasions and won 110 matches, 20 more than Mohammad Azharuddin. In T20Is, Dhoni has led 72 times, winning 41. Suresh Raina, Kohli, Virender Sehwag and Ajinkya Rahane have led a total of 7 T20Is between them.
9. India’s most successful wicketkeeper by a distance across formats
Dhoni is miles ahead of all Indian wicketkeepers in terms of overall dismissals across formats. He has 294 Test dismissals, nearly 100 more than Syed Kirmani, though both men have an equal number of stumpings. In ODIs, Dhoni has 369 dismissals, thereby giving him a huge lead of 215 over his closest rival Nayan Mongia. As for T20Is, India have only fielded three other ‘keepers apart from Dhoni, and his 65 dismissals are comfortably the highest.
10. Superman in terms of workload
Few cricketers will ever be able to match Dhoni’s sheer stamina and workload. Apart from batting and keeping wickets, Dhoni has also captained for a huge percentage of his matches. Since his international debut in 2004, Dhoni has played 462 matches across formats, 331 of which have been as captain.
To put this record in some perspective, the closest any other cricketer in history has come to Dhoni’s 331 international matches as both captain and wicketkeeper is Mushfiqur Rahim, with 79.
Additionally, he has also played and led in 159 IPL matches (for Chennai Super Kings and Rising Pune Supergiants / Supergiant), leading in a record 143. He has also played 24 Champions League T20 matches, captaining in 23.
Inputs from Abhishek Kumar
(Shiamak Unwalla is a proud Whovian and all-round geek who also dabbles in cricket writing as a reporter with CricketCountry. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)