Veteran Team India cricketer MS Dhoni had an outstanding run in 2019. So, far he has slammed four consecutive fifties against Australia since Down Under tour. Now, he just 33 runs away to join legendary Sachin Tendulkar, compact Rahul Dravid and master-class Virat Kohli to become overall sixth Indian cricketer to scale the 17,000-run mark across formats at the top-level cricket. Concurrently, the limited-overs series of India vs Australia 2019 is the preparing ground for the Men in Blue in the lead up to the 2019 World Cup.
The elite list also includes former skipper Sourav Ganguly and flamboyant opening batsman Virender Sehwag.
Tendulkar tops the ladder with overall 34,357 runs as Sehwag is listed fifth with 17,253 runs.
Dhoni has equally done his job immaculately by winning the five-match ODI series opener alongside Kedar Jadhav by six wickets in Hyderabad.
So far, a popular figure in Dhoni has amassed 16,977 runs in all three formats of international cricket for India since making his debut against Bangladesh in 2004.
Besides, on March 2 (Saturday) Dhoni played a significant role by stitching an unbeaten 141-run stand for the fifth wicket. His unbeaten 59-run knock saw yet another half-century while taking on Kangaroos.
On the other side, Jadhav slammed unbeaten 81 to help India despite losing four wickets at the score of 99.
Following a bleak show in 2018, Dhoni has regained the lost touch by playing slow innings in Sydney.
The 37-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman consumed 96 balls for his 51 including his slow show during the Vizag T20I. However, he has played a sensational role in helping India to clinch the series 2-1 in Australia.
In this year, Dhoni averages at 150.50 after accumulating 301 runs, so far. With the minimum of 300 runs, Dhoni is sitting second on the list of batsmen with the staggering batting average.
With India taking on visitors Australia in Nagpur on Tuesday (March 5), it would be interesting to see how long Dhoni will take to clinch the much-awaited milestone.
Here’s MSD’s run tally across formats:
| Player | Test Runs | ODI Runs | T20I Runs |
| MS Dhoni | 4,876 | 10,474 | 1,617 |
If we dissect Dhoni’s performance at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium (VDCA), Dhoni had relied on the exemplary show. He has amassed 268 runs in five games at this venue. Also, he has two centuries under his belt in Nagpur.
In 339 ODIs, Dhoni had recorded 10,474 runs at an average of 51.09 with the help of 10 tons and 71 half-centuries.
Here are the players with most runs in international cricket:
| S.No | Player | Total Int’l Runs |
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | 34,357 |
| 2 | Rahul Dravid | 24,208 |
| 3 | Virat Kohli | 19,453 |
| 4 | Sourav Ganguly | 18,575 |
| 5 | Virender Sehwag | 17,253 |
| 6 | MS Dhoni | 16,977 |
Meanwhile, Australian skipper Aaron Finch has won the toss and opted to field first.
