IPL 2019: MS Dhoni on the verge of breaking an all-time record
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, fondly called Thala by Chennai fans, has been the backbone of the team ever since the tournament began. His exceptional leadership has resulted in a remarkable consistency for the Chennai Super Kings, reaching the IPL playoffs in every season they have been a part of. Dhoni was brilliant with the bat in the IPL last season, helping his team finish off tense chases.
The defending champions of last year have been brilliant this year as well, becoming the first team to qualify for the playoffs. A major part of the credit for that also goes to Dhoni who has emerged as the leading run scorer for the team, despite batting low down the order. In fact, his importance to the team can be gauged by the fact that CSK have lost every game in which Dhoni hasn’t played this season.
However, one aspect of Dhoni’s game that goes unnoticed sometimes is his brilliance behind the stumps. It would not be wrong to say that he is the best wicket-keeper in the world. His lightening hands behind the stumps do not allow batsmen to leave the crease even for a fraction of a second.
The 37-year old is on the brink of breaking another IPL record. Dhoni has 128 dismissals to his name in the IPL. He is just 2 short of the 130-dismissals mark set by his fellow Indian teammate Dinesh Karthik. Surprisingly, Robin Uthappa is the third name on the list with 90 dismissals.
While Kolkata's chances of making the semi-finals hang by a thread, Dhoni’s team has qualified for the playoffs and he will be playing at least two, and at most three, matches if his back holds up. Thereby, giving him an opportunity to have another record to his name in the IPL. The CSK fans would hope that their Thala can achieve the landmark.
Dhoni has the most number of stumpings (120) in ODI cricket. He is also third on the list of number of dismissals with only greats of the game like Kumar Sangakkara and Adam Gilchrist ahead of him. In T20Is, Dhoni comfortably leads the charts with 91 dismissals from 98 matches. Pakistani keeper Kamran Akmal is second on the list with 60 dismissals. It seems that his T20I record won't be broken for a while either.