MS Dhoni completes 10,000 ODI runs for India
Wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni has reached the landmark of 10,000 ODI runs for India. The 37-year old accomplished the milestone during the first ODI against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.
The ongoing match at the SCG is Dhoni's 333rd ODI. However, three of those appearances have come for Asia XI during the 2007 Afro-Asia Cup held in India. Since those three matches were given ODI status, the 174 runs which he had scored in that tournament has been included in the right-hander's tally.
Including the match at Sydney, Dhoni has represented India in 330 ODIs and scored 10,002 runs (*at the end of the tenth over of the innings) at an average of 49.76 and strike-rate of 87.33. He has compiled nine centuries and 67 fifties thus far for India.
The 10,000th run was complete when Dhoni took a single off Jhye Richardson during the final ball of the sixth over in the Indian innings. There were no celebrations from the man himself and he carried on batting as if to indicate that it was business as usual.
Since making his ODI debut against Bangladesh at Chittagong in 2004, Dhoni has played 333 matches. Including his exploits in the 2007 Afro-Asia Cup, he has scored 10,176 runs (*at the end of the tenth over of India's innings at Sydney) at an average of 50.12 and strike-rate of 87.76. He has registered 10 centuries and 67 fifties.
During the 2007 Afro-Asia Cup, Dhoni played all three matches for Asia XI and amassed 174 runs at an average of 87 and strike-rate of 125.17. 139 of those runs came during the match at Chennai.
Considering the fact that his stint with Asia XI has always been included in his career tally, Dhoni had brought up his 10,000th ODI run during the Lord's encounter against England in 2018.
Top 5 run-scorers for India in ODIs
#1 Sachin Tendulkar - 18,426 runs from 463 matches at an average of 44.83 and strike-rate of 86.23.
#2 Sourav Ganguly - 11,221 runs from 308 matches at an average of 40.95 and strike-rate of 73.65
#3 Rahul Dravid - 10,768 runs from 340 matches at an average of 39.15 and strike-rate of 71.18
#4 Virat Kohli - 10,235 runs from 217 matches at an average of 59.50 and strike-rate of 92.84
#5 MS Dhoni - 10,002 runs from 330 matches at an average of 49.76 and strike-rate of 87.33
Note: All statistics mentioned in the article are accurate at the end of the tenth over of India's innings in the Sydney ODI against Australia