CT Stats: MS Dhoni creates a new T20 record

Former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has smashed many records in his illustrious cricket career and he set another record when he took on the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) for his Indian Premier League franchise the Rising Pune Super Giant (RPS).

At the Holkar stadium in Indore, Mahendra Singh Dhoni played his 250th T20 match and became the first Indian to do so. India discard Suresh Raina is at second position with four less matches played. The two are closely followed by Rohit Sharma (237), Gautam Gambhir (221), Harbhajan Singh (218) and Yusuf Pathan (218).

But the former RPS skipper, MS Dhoni failed to make the occasion special as he gave away his wicket cheaply to Swapnil Singh after scoring just 5 runs. The batsman left his team in a spot of bother as he got out in a situation when the team needed him to get some important runs.

It was the year 2006 when the wicket-keeper batsman made his T20 debut for India against South Africa at Johannesburg. Dhoni now has 5068 runs from 250 T20 matches which is quite a thing to be proud of. Dhoni’s first major success as a captain came in the year 2007 when he led India to victory in the first ever World T20 defeating arch rivals Pakistan in the final.

He is also the most successful captain in the Indian Premier League as he has led the franchise to glory two times in 2010 and 2011. He also led the yellow outfit in the Champions League T20 and emerged victorious two times in 2010 and 2014. The Chennai Super Kings are currently suspended for two years from the cash-rich league and would return next year.

It came as a shock to many people in the world when Dhoni was removed from captaincy by the Rising Pune Super Giant franchise, that opted for Australian skipper Steve Smith as their leader.

Most T20 matches played by an Indian cricketer:

MS Dhoni – 250 games

Suresh Raina – 246 games

Rohit Sharma – 237 games

Gautam Gambhir – 221 games

Harbhajan Singh – 218 games

*Stats updated till 8th April, 2017