MS Dhoni's 300th ODI: 5 Indian players who are part of the 300-club

In a series aimed at experimenting with India’s bench strength in 2004, a long-haired, unassuming wicket-keeper, an obscure name then, joined India's game of ‘musical chairs’. When he walked back with a nought next to his name on debut, few would have predicted him to last for over a decade in international cricket. 13 years later, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is on the cusp of completing 300 ODIs, a club that contains some of the best Indian players the format has seen.

Before him, five Indians have managed to achieve the distinction:

#5 Yuvraj Singh

Right from the time he hammered a red-hot Australian attack in his debut international innings, Yuvraj Singh exuded the confidence of a man ready take on the world. When in full flow, runs flew of his bat with a fluency that couldn’t be matched, although his ill-consistency threatened to pull him down whenever he started to reach the verge of greatness.

Yuvraj Singh’s ODI career, spread between two Champions Trophy editions (2000 and 2017) saw tremendous ups and downs, especially in 2011, when the joy of a World Cup win was diffused by news of him contracting lung cancer.

In 304 ODIs, Yuvraj scored 8701 runs, averaging a touch over 36, with 14 hundreds and 52 fifties. More than the numbers, however, was the impact he managed to create in crunch situations: the World T20 in 2007 and the 2011 World Cup are a testimony to him being a big-match player.

At 35, the chances of holding onto a permanent spot till the 2019 World Cup seem bleak, but given the fighter that ‘Yuvi’ is, you can never say never.