Dhoni is India’s knight in shining armour, he is our Dark Knight and after he shunned all his haters with a beautiful knock of 92 runs, we came up with a list of 5 best ‘Dhoni’ (pun intended!) knocks.
- 91* against Sri Lanka, 2ND April 2011, Wankhede stadium, Mumbai
No Indian can ever forget this date and captain cool’s knock. India had lost its front men cheaply and Virat Kohli tried to steer the ship with Gautam Gambhir, but when all Indian hope was lost then emerged Mahendra Singh Dhoni to show how it’s done. Putting up a crucial 109 run partnership with Gambhir to take the game home and lead us to another world cup. Though Gambir’s knock was crucial and it provided the launch pad for Dhoni to score an unbeaten 91, but what makes Dhoni’s innings special is how he handled the pressure of being in a final and took the team over the line; and the cherry on the top? He did it with a six.
- 183* against Sri Lanka, 31st October 2005, Sawai Man Singh stadium, Jaipur
This was another beauty against Sri Lanka, which established Dhoni as a force to reckon with in the team. With the opening duo of Sachin and Sehwag back in the dressing room, Dhoni was promoted up the order to stabilize the situation and boy he did more than just ‘stabilize’ the situation. Dhoni smashed a thrilling 183 runs and made Sanga’s 138 seem puny. He let it rip and hit 15 fours and 10 sixes to reach his grand total. Always a saviour; then and now!
- 71 against England, 7th August 2014, Old Trafford, Manchester
India’s tour of England in 2014 was a disaster with the team being tormented by the English bowling attack and suffering heavy losses. But one redeemable aspect of the series was Dhoni’s performance in the 4th test. India was 4 wickets down for a mere score of 8 runs and then the Indian captain came out to bat. In conditions which were not helping a batsman and sandwiched between a double threat of Anderson and Broad, Dhoni put up a brave fight, batting out of the crease and trying to get the most out of the hard deck. It’s said that when you earn the respect of your opponents that is when you become a true champion and dhoni not only wowed the audience but also the English players who applauded him after he got out. A truly heart winning performance!
- 92* against South Africa, 14th October 2015, Holkar Cricket stadium, Indore
This is a more recent match, where yet again the captain led the team to the shores of victory. The guests kept on taking wickets at regular intervals but MSD stood his ground to take the team to a defendable score of 247 runs. And what makes this knock even more special is the media frenzy that surrounded Mahendra Singh Dhoni. After continous defeats it became a popular opinion that M.S should retire. But the champion that he is, MSD shunned everyone and made it crystal clear to everyone to never write him off.
- 63* against Sunrisers Hyderabad, 26 September, JSCA stadium, Ranchi
It was a Champions league encounter between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad and it was in this match that Mahendra singh Dhoni made his fastest 50. Mahi scored a thumping 50 in just 19 balls raining havoc on all the bowlers in the opposition. The worse came to Thisara Perera who was hit for 5 sixes in an over. With a whooping strike rate of over 300 Dhoni along with Suresh Raina took Chennai Super Kings to a grand score of 202 from which victory was just a tiny little walk (SRH made 190 runs!).