Sachin hails Dhoni for his century of fifties
Yet another 100 for! This time in front of the stumps! Congratulations on a century of 50s Mahi SACHIN TENDULKAR, on Twitter
MUMBAI: His critics may have been making sporadic demands for answers over his future, but MS Dhoni does not seem to be wrapping up anytime soon. On the other hand, the former captain, who has been a vital cog for India late in the batting order, has been on a record-making spree.
Dhoni on Sunday created yet another record when he notched up a fine 79-run knock against Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Dhoni completed a 100 half-centuries in international cricket, becoming the fourth Indian batsman to do so. The 36-year-old has so far scored 33 half-centuries in Test cricket, 66 in ODIs and one in T20Is.
With 164 fifties, Sachin Tendulkar leads the list followed by Rahul Dravid (146) and Sourav Ganguly (107) in terms of making most fifties in international cricket across formats.
Tendulkar shared a memorable photograph of Dhoni from Sunday’s match and congratulated him. “Yet another 100 for! This time in front of the stumps! Congratulations on a century of 50s Mahi,” Sachin tweeted.
A few days ago, Dhoni had created the record of registering 100 stumpings as a wicketkeeper, becoming the first in history of ODI cricket to do so.
Dhoni had achieved the feat during the fifth ODI of India’s five-match series in Sri Lanka earlier this month, in a mere 302 ODIs.
Former Sri Lanka cricketer Kumar Sangakkara is on the second position with 99 stumpings in a career spanning over 15 years and 404 ODIs.
Dhoni played a match-winning role for India in the first ODI against Australia at Chennai. Walking out to bat with India tottering at 64 for four after 16 overs and slipping to 87 for five soon, he teamed up with Hardik Pandya to turn the game in favour of India.
Dhoni added 118 runs with the explosive Pandya who raced to a 66-ball 83, as India finished at a commendable 281 for seven in their allotted 50 overs. Despite rain interruption resulting in long delays, India won the game by 26 runs via the DuckworthLewis Method restricting Australia to 137 for nine in 21 overs.