Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Wednesday became the first Indian wicketkeeper and fourth overall to effect 400 One-Day International (ODI) dismissals. Dhoni achieved this feat during the third ODI of the six-match ODI series against South Africa at Cape Town when Kuldeep Yadav bowled a perfect flighted delivery to dismiss South African stand-in captain Aiden Markram for 32. While the ball turned enough to beat the outside edge of Markram's bat, Dhoni whipped off the bails in a flash only to catch Markram clueless about the dismissal.
Out of the 400 ODI dismissals, Dhoni has 294 catches and 106 stumpings to his name. He trails Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara, Australia's Adam Gilchrist, South Africa's Mark Boucher who have 482, 472 and 424 dismissals respectively to their name.
Apart from this, Dhoni is also the first player to have over 100 stumpings to his name. He achieved the landmark during the fifth and the final ODI against Sri Lanka at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo in September last year. The 36-year-old dislodged Akila Dananjaya's bails to complete his century of stumpings.
Dhoni also has the record of most number of unbeaten ODI innings - 77 innings.
Apart from this, the Ranchi-stalwart is only the 14th overall and fourth Indian after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly to score a century of fifties in international cricket. Tendulkar is on the top of the list with 164 fifties, former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara has 153 and former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis scored 149 fifties in his decade-long career.
The World Cup-winning captain, after having spent two seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with the Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) franchise, has returned to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the upcoming 11th edition of the IPL.
- Dhoni is the first India wicketkeeper to achieve this feat
- Dhoni has 294 catches and 106 stumpings to his name
- Dhoni is also the first player to have over 100 stumpings to his name
