In stats: MS Dhoni into record books after game-changing heroics in Cuttack T20 vs SL
Cuttack: Team India scripted history on Wednesday by registering their biggest win in T20Is, beating Sri Lanka convincingly by 93 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match Twenty20 series. While there were game changers in the likes of KL Rahul, Manish Pandey and Yuzvendra Chahal, it was MS Dhoni that gobbled the limelight, with his batting and wicketkeeping heroics.
When the visitors piled the pressure by sending Shreyas Iyer and Rahul back, Dhoni stepped up his game along with Manish Pandey to register a big first innings total. The veteran scored at a strike rate of 177.27 that consisted of 4 boundaries and one biggie during his unbeaten 22-ball 39-run knock.
But that was not it. Dhoni went on to add four wicketkeeping dismissals to his name, to stretch his tally to 74. In the process, he broke many other records:
1) Dhoni (39 not out + 4 dismissals) became the first Indian wicketkeeper to post 35 or more runs and effect four dismissals in the same T20I. He joined the likes of Kamran Akmal and South Africa's Quinton de Kock, who has done it twice.
2) Dhoni also became the first wicketkeeper to effect four dismissals in T20Is involving India and Sri Lanka.
3) Dhoni crossed the tally of 200 dismissals (201 dismissals in 272 matches) in the shortest format of the game, becoming only the second keeper after Kamran Akmal (207 dismissals from 211 matches) to do so.
4) Dhoni equalled Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara’s record (133) for the most catches in T20s. Dinesh Karthik is second to the 36-year-old at 121 catches.
5) Dhoni has now taken three four-plus dismissals in T20s, the most by any keeper, overtaking the likes of Adam Gilchrist, AB de Villiers and de Kock who have registered two each.
Stand-in India captain Rohit Sharma lauded Dhoni for flourishing in the no.4 role after he was promoted up the order.
"MSD (Dhoni), he's just class. No. 4 really paid off. He's played so many games for us, won so many games for us and moving forward, we feel making him bat at No. 4 is ideal," Rohit said.
"For a long period of time, MS has been finishing games off, but we want him to bat freely now, without that pressure. We were not sure what the ideal score would be, with dew and the wicket playing weirdly. So I thought 180 was a great effort," he added.
