Mahendra Dhoni Profile by CricketArchive

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Player:

MS Dhoni

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DateLine: 19th February 2007

 

He is the hottest property in Indian cricket today. A great favourite with young and old alike because of his uninhibited batting style Dhoni symbolizes youthful exuberance and is the pin up boy supreme. He is in newspaper ads, TV ads and hoardings all over the country endorsing various products and his long mane has been much imitated. On the field Dhoni can be a law unto himself pulling, hooking, driving and cutting bowlers to the fence repeatedly with strokes that might or might not be out of the textbook. His clean hitting has exasperated captains, bowlers and fielders and he has frequently put even Virender Sehwag into the shade. Like when he slammed a dazzling 148 off 123 balls against Pakistan at Vishakapatnam in 2005 or when he plundered the Sri Lankan attack for an unbeaten 183 off 145 balls later that same year at Jaipur, surpassing Adam Gilchrists record for the highest score by a wicket keeper in ODIs. In the course of this swashbuckling knock he smacked 15 fours and ten sixes a record 120 in boundaries for an ODI innings. It did not seem possible that Dhoni could carry this buccaneering approach into the Test arena but the prodigiously gifted lad from Jharkand did just that symbolized by his 148 struck in inimitable style against Pakistan at Faisalabad in 2006 made at a time when India were struggling to avoid the follow on. A strike rate of 100 in ODIs and almost 73 in Tests underlines his ability to dominate the bowling. Dhonis pyrotechnics with the bat has tended to overshadow his work behind the stumps that is brilliant both while keeping to pacemen or spinners.