7 MS Dhoni records unlikely to be broken anytime soon
MS Dhoni recently announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket after a stellar decade-and-a-half long career.
The wicketkeeper-batsman created a plethora of records in all forms of the game for the national team and also excelled in franchise competitions like the IPL. On that note, let us have a look at MS Dhoni's seven records which are unlikely to be broken by anyone anytime soon.
Seven MS Dhoni records unlikely to be broken any time soon:
#7: Most matches as captain in the IPL
MS Dhoni is a name that has been associated with the Indian Premier League (IPL) since the competition's inception. He was the costliest buy in the inaugural IPL auction when Chennai Super Kings (CSK) spent a whopping INR 6 Crore to get the T20 World Cup-winning captain on board.
Over the years, MS Dhoni's name has become synonymous with CSK, and he has repaid the faith showed by the franchise in him. Apart from being 3-time winners in the IPL, CSK are the only team to reach the playoffs of the competition every single season. They have reached the IPL final a whopping eight times in the ten seasons they have participated in the competition.
This amazing consistency has ensured that MS Dhoni has been CSK's captain when the franchise has appeared in the IPL.
Apart from captaining Rising Pune Supergiant in the 2016 IPL season, MS Dhoni duly holds the record for playing the most matches (174) as captain in the history of the tournament. Besides, he also has the highest win percentage of 60.11% among all captains in IPL history who have captained a franchise on at least 30 games.
Virat Kohli is second in the list with 110 matches as a captain in the IPL. But with MS Dhoni likely to don the CSK jersey for at least for another season or two, it is unlikely that his record will be surpassed anytime soon.
#6: Most matches as a captain in international cricket
Besides captaining in the IPL, MS Dhoni was the captain of the Indian cricket team from 2007 to 2016, during which time, he brought several laurels to the country.
Having taken over from Rahul Dravid, not many expected MS Dhoni to carry the Indian cricket team to the heights which he eventually did. As soon as he led a group of young men to the ICC World T20 title in his first series as Indian captain in 2007, there was no stopping him.
The CB series win in 2008, reaching number one in the Test rankings for the first time ever in 2009, winning the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy are some of the many moments Indian cricket fans still remember fondly.
It is no surprise that MS Dhoni was the unanimous choice for captaining India over a long period of time as he broke Ricky Ponting's record of 324 matches as international captain in 2016. He finished with 332 matches as captain in international cricket.
Looking at the next name on the list among active cricketers (Virat Kohli, 181 matches), it won't be a surprise if this record is not broken for many more years to come.
#5: Most ICC tournaments won as a captain
The advent of the T20 format ensured that the frequency of ICC tournaments increased over the years.
Gone were the days when cricket fans had to wait for four long years to witness the best teams across the globe play together as tournaments like the ICC World T20 and ICC Champions Trophy came to the fore.
The appointment of MS Dhoni as the Indian captain coincided with ICC tournaments starting to happen frequently and unsurprisingly; he led India in many such tournaments till he relinquished captaincy duties to Virat Kohli.
By this time, MS Dhoni had already led India in a whopping ten ICC tournaments, which included two 50-over World Cups, two Champions Trophy tournaments and six ICC World T20s. He is also the only captain in international cricket to win all the three major ICC trophies.
Ricky Ponting comes a close second with nine appearances as captain in ICC tournaments from 2002 until 2011, but no captain who is currently active in International cricket is even close to this record.
#4: Only bastman to score over 10,000 international runs batting at number six or below
MS Dhoni has been so successful as a captain that his batting exploits sometimes tend to be overshadowed. He was a master of his own craft when it came to batting towards the fag end of innings and always ensured that India had someone to rely on in crunch situations towards the back end.
He could have easily scored many more runs in his international career by batting slightly up the order. But he chose to groom young guns like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina among many others by giving them opportunities while he performed the tough job of finishing innings.
MS Dhoni ends his international career with 10,628 international runs when he batted at number six or below. The second name on this list is Mark Boucher with with 9,365 runs. MS Dhoni's numbers batting in the lower-middle order is a hard one to break for any cricketer.
#3: Highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper-batsman in Tests and ODIs
MS Dhoni burst into the scene as India's first real wicketkeeper who could take the game away from the opposition, a rare trait in those days.
He bludgeoned bowling attacks all over the world in the first few years of his career. Only after he became the captain, he took a more measured approach to batting and ended up as one of the greatest finishers ever in limited-overs cricket.
Currently, MS Dhoni holds the record for the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper-batsman in both Tests and ODIs: he scored 224 against Australia in the Chennai Test in 2013 and an unbeaten 183 against Sri Lanka in an ODI in Jaipur in 2005.
India now have many talented wicketkeeper-batsmen such as KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant at their disposal, but it would take a lot of effort for any of them to break this record.
#2: Most stumpings in international cricket
MS Dhoni had a technique of his own when it came to wicketkeeping. He was razor sharp behind the stumps, to say the least.
His reflexes were a treat for sore eyes, and this was one of his abilities that did not diminish with age. MS Dhoni could stump out batsmen within milliseconds, even before they could realise what happened.
Many batsmen over the years succumbed to his genius and were left shell-shocked. MS Dhoni's situational awareness ensured that he became the first ever wicketkeeper to reach the milestone of 100 stumpings in ODI cricket as he finished his international career with 195 stumpings across formats.
The next name on this list among active players is Mushfiqur Rahim with just 88 stumpings. That proves that MS Dhoni created new benchmarks when it came to stumping out a batsman, and it is nearly impossible for anyone to break this record.
#1: Most not-outs in ODI cricket
MS Dhoni transformed himself from a flamboyant hard-hitter to a calculated batsman who had a terrific sense of calm and situational awareness on a cricket field. His cricketing brain enabled him to win many matches for India out of nowhere, which led everyone to recognise him as the greatest finisher of the modern era.
Although his effectiveness was consistent under any situation, MS Dhoni was a different beast altogether when it came to chasing in ODI cricket. He remained not out on 51 occasions while batting second, with India losing just two of these matches.
Renowned commentator and cricket expert Harsha Bhogle had once famously quoted:
"If Dhoni plays till the end, one thing is for sure..He will make his team win".
Overall, MS Dhoni remained not-out on 84 occasions in ODI cricket, overtaking the record previously held by Shaun Pollock who had done it on 72 occasions. This is another MS Dhoni record that will require a whole lot of effort to be overhauled by anyone else.