MS Dhoni Gets His 'Midas Touch' Back
You did not need to be an MS Dhoni fan to stand up and applaud the innings he played with the writing on the wall at the Pallekele International Stadium on Thursday as India chased down the target of 231 against Sri Lanka with 5 overs to spare to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
M S Dhoni scored a patient unbeaten 45 off 68 balls but more importantly mentored Bhuvneshwar Kumar (53*) as the duo added 100 runs for the eighth wicket to reach the revised victory target of 231 in 44.2 overs under Duckworth-Lewis system.
The 3-wicket win now puts more belief in the Virat Kohli led side after they were down in the dumps and at one stage looked like Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were only delaying the inevitable.
Yes, this Sri Lankan bowling is not even close to being among the best, but then, these very bowlers, especially Dananjaya took six wickets in a spell which saw him bag Rohit Sharma (54), Kedar Jadhav (1), Virat Kohli (4), KL Rahul (4) and Hardik Pandya (0). The Lankans definitely had the match in the bag with the score reading 131/7 when Dhoni was joined by Bhuvneshwar.
Sri Lanka were on top and the 109-run partnership between Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan (49) at the top of the innings didn’t really seem to have any bearing as Danajaya was on a roll and picking wickets in every over. But that is when Dhoni decided to remind the world that the strokes might have given way, but not the acumen. He struggled, the turning ball didn’t help either. But Dhoni was a man on a mission and there were two things he needed to ensure. Firstly he needed to hold one end up and second he needed to ensure that Bhuvneshwar did not throw his wicket away.
With critics breathing down his throat and even the chief national selector — MSK Prasad — making it clear that Dhoni’s position in the team was being evaluated with every passing innings, Dhoni showed the world why exactly skipper Kohli still believes Dhoni is the man for India both behind the stumps and in crunch situations. In the end, Dhoni held fort and let Bhuvneshwar express himself as India won with three wickets in the bag.
Matters were only helped by the fact that the super-fast start at the top of the innings meant that Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar could buy their time and not fret about the required run-rate.
Earlier, it was Jasprit Bumrah who stole the show with the ball as he finished with four wickets and helped restrict the hosts to just 236/8 in their 50 overs. Things could have been worse for the Lankans had it not been for the partnership between Milinda Siriwardana (58) and Chamara Kapugedera (40). But it was Bumrah who had the last laugh as he finished with figures of 4/43 from his 10 overs. He was well supported by Yuzvendra Chahal (2/43) in the wickets column.
1. Dhoni completed his 99th ODI stumping after affecting the dismissal of Sri Lankan opener Danushka Gunathilaka in the 14th over. His tally is the joint highest along with former Lankan wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara, though the Indian took quite a few matches less to reach the landmark.
2. After remaining not-out on 45 at the Pallekele stadium, Dhoni achieved the most number (120) of unbeaten knock in international cricket history. He surpassed Muttiah Muralitharan who had remained not-out on 119 occasions.
3. Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar were involved in a partnership of 100 not out which is India's highest eighth wicket partnership vs Sri Lanka in ODIs, obliterating the unbroken 57 between Virat Kohli and Axar Patel at Ranchi on November 16, 2014.
4. Dhoni also has most unbeaten innings and highest average in successful ODI run-chases.
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