MS Dhoni added another accolade to his already illustrious career as the veteran wicket-keeper became the first India cricketer to play 300 T20 matches when he took the field against New Zealand in Hamilton on Sunday.
Dhoni joined the likes of Chris Gayle, Shoaib Malik and Dwayne Bravo in an elite list of players with over 300 T20 appearances to their name. The list is topped by West Indies all-rounder Kieran Pollard with 446 appearances.
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Dhoni has represented India on 96 occasions and the rest came for the Indian Premier League (IPL) sides Rising Pune Supergiants and Chennai Super Kings. The matches also include the Champions League T20.
Earlier, he became the joint-third in the list of cricketers with most number of ODIs under his belt for India.
The list is presently being led by Sachin Tendulkar (463), with Rahul Dravid (340) right behind at second. Mohammad Azharuddin is the joint-third as Dhoni has played 334 ODIs for India and 3 ODIs for Asia XI.
In a recent interview, head coach Ravi Shastri praised the veteran and said that he is a ‘once in a generation’ cricketer whose boots will be tough to fill.
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“He is still a great batsman, and is finishing matches for us. You saw in Adelaide, and he has been in terrific form this year. He may not be Dhoni of 2008 or 2011. But experience is not bought or sold in the market.
“And why just batting, you saw the run-out of James Neesham on Sunday. That was Dhoni at his very best, like a con artist. He was not even looking at the ball, and the run-out was done in a flash, and it changed the course of that game. He is superb with the gloves, and from behind the stumps he really guides the wrist spinners because he understands all the fielding angles from inside the circle much better than the others,” Shastri said.
First Published: Feb 10, 2019 13:21 IST
Source: HindustanTimes