MS Dhoni is one of the greatest cricketers in the world. He is a very special man in the world cricket not only as a wicketkeeper, but also a batsman and a captain.
In every prospect, his dedication level is too high. On the field, Dhoni always remains with a cool and calm head that carries him to destiny smoothly.
In his long international career, Dhoni has already earned many reputed individual and team’s achievements. But some of them are very special in international cricket, which rarely happens. We are talking about those achievements in this context. Let’s take a look.
Five Special Achievements For MS Dhoni In His International Career
1. Only batsman to score more than one ODI century at no.7 or lower
It’s not an easy task to score an ODI century coming to bat at no. 7 or lower. The main reason is they usually do not enough time to score big runs, and if they have the time then they have also tremendous pressure in a similar position.
Only 14 cricketers have achieved this toughest feat and MS Dhoni is the only man who has done this twice. All the other 13 cricketers have achieved this feat for only one time.
The first time Dhoni did that for Asia XI against Africa XI at Chennai on 10th June 2007. In this match, Dhoni came to bat at no. 7 when his team was struggling for 72/5 (16.4 overs). Dhoni played a massive unbeaten 139 runs innings as Asia XI managed to score 331 runs at the end of 50 overs. At the end of the match, Asia XI won this game by 13 runs and Dhoni was selected for Man of the Match Award.
The second incident happened against Pakistan at Chennai on 30th December 2012. As Indian captain, Dhoni once again came to bat at no. 7 when India was in a miserable position on 29/5 (9.4 overs). Dhoni took the responsibility and played one of the greatest ODI knocks of unbeaten 113 runs as India managed to get past 200 runs (227/6 in 50 overs). However, India lost that game but Dhoni was awarded the player of the match for his extraordinary batting performance.
2. Playing as a wicketkeeper, bowled most no. of times in international cricket
Wicketkeepers don’t bowl occasionally, they bowl very rarely. In his entire international career, MS Dhoni has bowled in total 9 innings. It is the most no. of times in international cricket by a keeper. Playing as a wicketkeeper, Dhoni had bowled 7 times in his Test career while he has also bowled 2 times in his ODI career.
Former English wicketkeeper Bill Storer is second in this list (Playing as a wicketkeeper, bowled most no.of times in international cricket) who had bowled in four innings in the international cricket.
3. Playing as a wicketkeeper, only player to take a wicket in an ICC event
Playing as a wicketkeeper, MS Dhoni is the only player to take a wicket in an ICC event. It was the match against West Indies at Johannesburg in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy, where MS Dhoni claimed his only international wicket after dismissing Travis Dowlin.
In fact, MS Dhoni is the only player to bowl in an ICC event while playing as a wicketkeeper.
4. Only captain to achieve 3 different ICC tournaments
MS Dhoni is the only skipper to achieve 3 different ICC tournaments. During his captaincy, India won 2007 World T20, 2011 ICC World Cup and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. There are no other skippers who have achieved more than two different ICC tournaments.
Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting is next on this list who had won two different ICC tournaments (ICC World Cup – 2003 and 2007; ICC Champions Trophy – 2006 and 2009).