Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday became the fourth Indian to reach the milestone of 10,000 runs in ODIs during the second match of the three-game series against England here today.
The 37-year-old former India skipper joined an elite list which features some of India’s greatest batsmen in Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Dhoni needed just 33 runs to achieve the milestone and he did it with a single in the 43rd over of the second ODI between India and England at the iconic Lord’s Stadium.
Dhoni is currently placed 12th in the list of all-time highest run-getters in ODIs.
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara is the only wicketkeeper-batsman to feature in the list with 14,234 runs to his name. He is the second highest run-getter in the ODIs, behind only the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
What makes Dhoni’s achievement is unique is that he has achieved the feat as predominantly a lower-middle order batsman. More than 75% of his runs have come while batting at No 5 and below, according to ESPNCricinfo. No other member in the 10000-club scored 30% of their runs batting lower down the order.
Earlier in the day, Dhoni also became the fourth wicket-keeper to complete 300 ODI catches after Adam Gilchrist (417), Mark Boucher (403) and Kumar Sangakkara (402).
Dhoni did not quite enjoy a memorable outing in the middle otherwise, however, as he was booed by the crowd towards the end of his 59-ball 37 while prolonging what was then an inevitable defeat for India. Dhoni’s innings was a struggle from the word go as he tried to rebuild the chase in the company of Hardik Pandya (21) and the tail which never materialised.
Kohli defended his former captain at the end saying, “People just jump to conclusions which we, as a team, don’t. We totally believe in him. We all have bad days and today the batting unit has a bad day as a whole.”