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File image of former India captain MS Dhoni. (Getty Images)
And on Wednesday morning it was heart-warming to see Dhoni beat none other than Hardik Pandya in a 100m dash during training ahead of the second ODI between India and Sri Lanka in Mohali.
BCCI tweeted the video which read: “A quick 100 metre dash between @msdhoni and @hardikpandya7. Any guesses on who won it in the end? #TeamIndia #INDvSL.”
A quick 100 metre dash between @msdhoni and @hardikpandya7. Any guesses on who won it in the end? #TeamIndia #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/HpboL6VFa6
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 13, 2017
Dhoni needs 109 more runs to reach to ten thousand ODI runs. He will be the 4th Indian to reach this milestone after Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid. He also has the 4th most ODI runs by an Indian batsman this year. Dhoni has got the 4th best ODI batting average of all time (minimum 3000 ODI runs). Dhoni has been consistently scoring runs against Sri Lanka in ODIs. He has a batting average of 131 against Sri Lanka in his last 8 ODI innings and has scored 4 half centuries in those innings.
At Mohali, Dhoni has the 2nd most ODI runs. He needs 11 more runs in this match, to overtake Tendulkar. He averages 59.33 and has a strike rate of 92.46 at Mohali.
Handed an embarrassing defeat in the inaugural ODI, a wounded India would look to get even against an inspired Sri Lanka in a do-or-die second match on Wednesday. The loss not only hurt but was also an eye-opener for a team that has been dominant all throughout the long home season.
Proving that the opening day surrender to Sri Lanka pacers at the Eden Gardens was no aberration, the Indian batting stood exposed once again against the moving ball. Chandigarh won't be as cold as Dharamsala but the pacers should come into play considering it is another 11:30 am start to the day-night affair.
In that case, it will be another test for the Indian batsmen if the home team happens to bat first in a must-win contest. Barring old war-horse MS Dhoni, the highly-rated batsmen seemed like sitting ducks every time Suranga Lakmal pitched the ball up in the off-stump corridor.
After the experienced Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan fell early, it was an ideal opportunity for the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey to weather the initial storm and make a big score.
First Published: December 13, 2017, 12:15 PM IST