While Shikhar Dhawan with his 72 runs off 32 balls and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with his tally of 4-24-5 took center stage in the India vs South Africa, 1st T20I at the New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, there is one man who has been silently going on while ticking off a couple of milestones in the series.
He is none other than the two-time World Cup winning former Indian skipper MS Dhoni, who is once again showing his worth in the squad. While we all know how the 36-year-old’s cricketing acumen has helped the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in dismantling the Proteas in their home turf, MS Dhoni himself has grabbed another world record in the India vs South Africa, 1st T20I.
For the unknown, during the 3rd ODI, MS Dhoni became the fourth wicketkeeper to have 400 dismissals on his name in the format, after Kumar Sangakkara (482 in 404 matches), Adam Gilchrist (472 in 287 matches) and Mark Boucher (424 in 295 matches).
Now, during the 1st match of the India vs South Africa T20I series on Sunday, he added another feather to his huge cap of records after becoming the wicketkeeper with the most number of catches in the T20 format.
MS Dhoni’s dismissal of Reeza Hendricks, off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, was his 134th catch in the T20 format which has given him the record of most catches in this format. The former Indian captain broke the previous record of 133 catches in 254 T20 matches held by Sri Lankan great, Kumar Sangakkara.
The wicket-keeping batsman, at the age of 36, is showing no signs of slowing down and his swiftness behind the stumps, his DRS accuracy along with substantial advice to the wrist spinners have helped Virat Kohli & Co. dominated the limited-overs leg of the tour with a 5-1 series victory in the ODI leg and a 28 runs-win in the India vs South Africa, 1st T20I.
With 77 dismissals, MS Dhoni also holds the record of most dismissals in T20Is (48 catches and 29 stumpings). The 48 catches in 87 T20Is is also a world record.
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When it comes to other class-defining records held by MS Dhoni, he holds the record of most centuries while batting at No 7, most stumpings in international cricket, most sixes as captain in ODIs, highest ever score by a wicketkeeper in ODIs as well as the most number of T20I victories as captain.
With 9967 runs in ODI cricket, MS Dhoni needs just 33 runs to Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara by becoming the second wicketkeeper-batsman to breach the 10,000 run-landmark in the format. We hope that MSD adds this record to his tally during team India’s tour of England this summer.
As for the India vs South Africa T20I series, the second is scheduled for Wednesday at SuperSport Park, Centurion (9:30 pm IST) while the last T20I will be played on February 24 at Cape Town (9:30 pm IST).