“The Greatest Finisher Ever In The Game”
- Virat Kohli
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not just a name, it is an emotion for the billions of cricket fans. Be it his quick-lightning stumping, helicopter shots, or magnificent captaincy, his legacy can’t be described in words. His contributions to Indian cricket are immeasurable. Although he has done a bunch of wonders in his entire cricketing journey, some milestones are almost impossible for any other player to surpass. Let us glance at the five unbreakable records made by MS Dhoni as a batter, wicket-keeper, and obviously as a captain.
UNBREAKABLE MS DHONI RECORDS
1) CAPTAINCY IN MOST INTERNATIONAL MATCHES
Just look at the current scenario of the Indian cricket team. A total of eight captains have been appointed in just 7 months. On the other hand, our legend MS Dhoni holds the record of playing the most number of international matches in his career. Playing 300 international games across all three formats is a milestone for the player. MS played 332 international matches as a captain, which is the highest to date. After MS, Ricky Ponting played 324 international games as a captain. In the 332 matches Dhoni played, he led the team in 200 ODIs, 72 T20Is, and 60 test matches. Currently, the boards of cricket teams are changing captains very quickly. Thus, it can be considered that, for a long time, this record of MS Dhoni will be unbroken.
2) WINNING ALL THREE ICC TROPHIES AS A CAPTAIN
In order to win a single ICC Trophy, a team has to go through a lot of hard work and patience. But MS did wonders by winning all the three ICC Trophies, ICC T20 World Cup, ICC ODI World Cup, and ICC Champions Trophy in 2007, 2011, and 2013 respectively. Even the greatest captains of Mighty Aussies, Ricky Ponting, and Michael Clarke haven’t done this. ICC Champions Trophy 2013 was the last ICC trophy India won that too under MS. After that, India lost after reaching the knockouts.
3) HIGHEST NUMBER OF STUMPINGS
When it comes to wicketkeeping, the entire cricket world knows who is the greatest wicket-keeping of all time in cricket history. Even the opponents used to praise the lightning-quick wicket-keeping skills of MS Dhoni. There are many wicket keepers in the world whose idol is MS Dhoni. One of the most common examples is English keeper Jos Buttler, who has said many times that he got inspired by the keeping of MSD and the way he makes quick stumpings even in pressure situations. In the 538 international matches, MS Dhoni has done 195 stumpings in his career. With 139 stumpings, Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara is in the second spot. This record of MSD is almost untouchable from other wicketkeepers present globally.
4) QUICKEST STUMPING IN THE HISTORY
In the previous point, the point already raised is that MSD is the best wicketkeeper. An average human eye takes 0.25 seconds for a visual stimulus. Surprisingly, the fastest stumping in history is way quicker than 0.25 seconds. During the 4th ODI in the series against West Indies, MSD stumped Keemo Paul in just 0.08 seconds. Just try to visualize how quick the stumping would be in a micro-second. Earlier this record was 0.09 seconds. Interestingly, that record was also made by our captain cool.
5) FASTEST BATSMAN TO REACH THE NO 1 SPOT IN ODI
Whenever we talk about MSD, we usually praise his magnificent captaincy and quick stumpings, but along with these, he had a great time batting and making runs for India. He is also recognized as the best finisher worldwide. He is amazing as a batter which many cricket fans are unaware of. MSD was the fastest batsman to reach the number 1 spot in the ODI. He took only 42 ODI matches to become the fastest batsman to reach this milestone and overtook the record of Australian legend Ricky Ponting.