MS Dhoni has been enjoying a brilliant run of form in 2019 and he was once again a top performer for the Indian cricket team on Saturday as he guided them to a comfortable win over Australia in the first ODI encounter.

The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman scored a gritty half century and in the process, became only the fourth Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid to complete 13,000 runs in List A cricket.

Dhoni now has 13,054 runs in 412 List A matches at an average of 50.79 with legendary England cricketer Graham Gooch topping the lists with 22,211 runs in List A cricket.

Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav joined a set of elite players are stitching together a match-winning stand against Australia. This was the second instance where the pair had put on a century stand in ODIs and their previous 100-run partnership also came against the same opposition.

The unbeaten 141-run stand is the second best fifth-wicket stand for India against Australia at home in ODIs. 57.44 % of the partnership runs came off the bat of Kedar Jadhav. The duo surpassed Suresh Raina and Sachin Tendulkar’s record as they had scored 137 at the same venue in 2009.

Also, this is the second-highest stand for any wicket at this venue. Australian Shaun Marsh and Shane Watson top the list after putting together 145 runs for the opening wicket in 2009.

First Published: Mar 03, 2019 17:53 IST