India’s legendary wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni is not a sort of person who gives the impression of chasing milestones. However, he is on the cusp of one going into the series-deciding ODI against Sri Lanka at the ACA-VDCA stadium, Visakhapatnam. The former skipper requires 102 more runs to become only the second wicket-keeper batsman in ODI history after Kumar Sangakkara to amass 10,000 ODI runs.
Given that Dhoni has usually batted at number 5 or 6 position in ODIs unlike Sangakkara, the accomplishment will be considered all the more exceptional. If will be apt if Dhoni can get those runs at Vizag since it was here he registered his maiden ODI ton, 148 off 123 balls against Pakistan 12 years ago.
Having recorded scores like 0, 12, 7* and 3 in his first four innings, MSD was under pressure to prove his mettle at the international level and he turned it around in Visakhapatnam. Since then he has never looked back and went on to become the most successful Indian captain ever.
In February 2016, Dhoni had tweeted about the city from where his rise to superstardom had begun. The 36-year-old had also expressed his desire to live in Vizag.
“Vizag, one of the cities, that I would love to live in, nice and beautiful landscape with beach and home to my first big innings,” the Jharkhand man had written on his Twitter page.
Off from Vizag,one of the city that I would love to live in,nice and beautiful landscape with beach and home to my first big inning
— Mahendra Singh Dhoni (@msdhoni) February 15, 2016
At the start of 2017 – when England toured India for a limited-overs series comprising of 3 ODIs and as many T20Is, MS Dhoni had decided to hand over the captaincy baton to already established Test skipper Virat Kohli. Since then, he has been playing as a wicket-keeper batsman and is doing his bit to the best of his ability.
During the Sri Lanka tour in August-September, Dhoni remained unbeaten throughout the limited-overs series. The veteran glovesman also proved his batting prowess in the first ODI against Australia at Chennai in September, where he crafted 88-ball 79 when India were tottering at 64-4. Moreover, the Ranchi dazzler has scored 788 ODI runs at an astounding average of 60.61 in the year 2017 thus far.
