MS Dhoni Joins Tendulkar, Kohli in Another Elite List

MS Dhoni will get an opportunity to join the illustrious list of players on Friday in the final third ODI between India and Australia.

(Photo: Reuters)

The new year has brought in some luck for MS Dhoni with the bat as the former captain hit back-to-back half centuries against Australia in the first two ODIs in the ongoing ODI series.

Adding another feather to his cap, Dhoni became the fourth Indian batsman during the third and final ODI in Melbourne, after Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to complete 1,000 ODI runs in Australia.

Coming into the third ODI, Dhoni was only 34 runs away from achieving the feat.

Earlier, in the series during the first ODI in Sydney Dhoni became the fifth Indian batsman to score 10,000 ODI runs for India. Last year, Dhoni had crossed the 10,000-run mark in ODIs in England, but it included 174 runs, which came for Asia XI in three matches.

Meanwhile, in Adelaide MS Dhoni, despite suffering in the heat, saw India home with four balls to spare.

MS Dhoni has received praise from skipper Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar and Gavaskar for his new find of form with the bat. Dinesh Karthik also lauded MS Dhoni for winning the last-over thriller.

“I think he (Dhoni) is been pretty solid this series. It was great to watch him bat and finish off an innings and we know he can absorb pressure and release it back to the opponents when the time is right and that has always been his strength and today you saw a perfect example of that,” Karthik said.