5 forgotten victories of India under MS Dhoni's captaincy
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a name that will be etched in the history of Indian cricket forever. Apart from being the only captain to lift all three ICC titles (World T20, World Cup and Champions Trophy), the wicket-keeper batsman also led India to the number one position in ICC's Test ranking.
Dhoni captained the Indian team for almost 10 years and emerged victorious 178 times (27 Test wins, 110 ODI wins and 41 T20I wins) from a total of 331 games (most by any captain). There are a lot of famous wins that people remember - such as those three ICC titles, 2014 Test win at Lord's, 2010 Asia Cup victory and many more.
With so many wins under his belt, there are several successful matches that people do not remember in a similar manner. Here are five such forgotten wins achieved by India under Dhoni's captaincy.
#5 2nd T20I vs Sri Lanka (Mohali) – 2009
By December 2009, T20 cricket had grabbed the world’s attention. Two editions of the World T20 and Indian Premier League had gone through successfully among various other T20 competitions.
After becoming powerhouses of T20 cricket with the advent of the IPL, India went through a rough patch in the shortest format. Before the second T20 against Sri Lanka at Mohali, they had lost six out of nine T20 games in that year (including a losing streak of four matches).
Leading 1-0, Sri Lanka opted to bat on a flat pitch. They posted a mammoth 206. This was the second consecutive time in the series that the Lankans had managed to score above 200.
India were very sloppy in the field. They dropped as many as six catches in the second T20 alone. Adding to these drop catches were several mistakes on the field as the hosts conceded 24 extras (17 wides and 7 leg-byes). Thus, it resulted in the visitors setting a target of over 200 for the second successive time.
Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir set the tone early as India got off to a brilliant start. They were 58/1 at the end of the Power Play (after losing Gambhir on the last ball of the 6th over). Skipper Dhoni promoted himself to number three to up the ante.
Sehwag looked in great touch as he scored a 36-ball 64. He shared a 50-run partnership with Dhoni before holing out in the 11th over. Following the opener's dismissal, birthday boy Yuvraj Singh entered the arena. He started hitting the ball cleanly. His splendid 25-ball 60 (which included 3 fours and 5 sixes) helped India register the then highest successful run-chase in T20Is and level the series 1-1.
Brief Scores: India 211 for 4 (Sehwag 64, Yuvraj 60*, Dhoni 46, Malinga 1/28) beat Sri Lanka 206 for 7 (Sangakkara 59, Jayasinghe 38, Yuvraj 3-23)