MS Dhoni has shut down his critics in style with a sizzling performance in the recently-concluded three-match ODI series. The former India batsman had faced heavy criticism after a poor 2018 where he managed to score only 275 runs in 20 ODIs. However, the 2019 has begun on a stunning note for him. He scored 51, 55 not out and 87 not out to help India beat Australia 201 and win their first-ever bilateral ODI series win Down Under.
He was named player-of-the-series after scoring 193 runs from the three games, finishing the series as India’s highest run-scorer ahead of the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. In doing so, he also achieved a personal milestone. At 37 years and 195 days, Dhoni is now the oldest Indian to win a man-of-the-series award. Sunil Gavaskar held the previous record when he won the man-of-the-series award against Sri Lanka in 1987. He was 37 years and 191 days. He now has 7 such awards which places him joint fourth with the likes of Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Hashim Amla, Viv Richards and AB de Villiers.
MS Dhoni is now joint second with Kohli, Ganguly and Yuvraj for most player-of-the-series awards. Sachin Tendulkar heads the all-time list with 15 awards from 1989 to 2012.
On Friday, Dhoni proved his mettle again by playing a sublime knock of 87. India were staring down the barrel after being reduced to 113 for 3 in 30 overs while chasing 231. However, Dhoni held firm from one end and shared an unbeaten stand of 121 runs with Kedar Jadhav to take India home during the tight chase.
After the game, a hilarious incident took place. When the players and the coaching staff came out to shake hands, Dhoni handed the ball to batting coach Sanjay Bangar. He then hilariously told him:
“Ball le lo nahi to bolega retirement le rahe ho (Take the ball or they will say you are retiring)”
Here is a clip of that hilarious retirement:
See #Dhoni when gave ball to the coach and said " Ball lelo nahi to bolega retirement lerahe ho" ?
even even #Dhoni wants to play more. #AUSvIND #INDvAUS #Chahal #Jadhav #WhistlePodu@ChennaiIPL pic.twitter.com/B5dMVQEzhR— Mango Sheikh (@mango_shiekh) January 18, 2019
Something similar had happened after the third ODI in England last year. A video showing Dhoni taking the match ball from the umpires had gone viral with many speculating that the wicketkeeper-batsman was about to retire. Later, head coach Ravi Shastri has revealed that Dhoni took the ball only to show it to bowling coach.