ICC takes up the 10 Year Challenge portraying MS Dhoni's finishing skills

The second ODI between Australia and India witnessed a typical MS Dhoni classic. The former skipper came in at number five after the fall of Ambati Rayudu’s wicket. At that point in time, the side still needed 139 runs to win the game from 116 balls. As he usually does, MS Dhoni didn’t take many risks and tried to acclimatise to the conditions.

He played the anchor and supported Virat Kohli at the other end who just began to shift gears. There weren’t any signs of aggression from Dhoni until Virat got to his 39th ODI century. He emphasised on rotating the strike and seemed to be determined to make an impact. The 37-year-old ran hard between the wickets even after keeping for 50 overs in scorching heat.

Still smashing sixes and finishing chases

MS Dhoni first took 24 balls to score the first 12 runs. Then, he slowly shifted to the second gear. The wicket-keeper batsman was batting on 25 off 34 balls when Kohli got out. India still needed 57 runs to win the game from 38 balls. He broke the shackles immediately in the next over when he hit a six off Nathan Lyon’s bowling over mid-wicket.

But, with Karthik running hard and scoring runs at a brisk pace at the other end, MS Dhoni didn’t need to take any risks further. He definitely improved the scoring rate but didn’t take any chances. Seven runs were needed off the last over for India to win the game and Jason Behrendorff was the bowler.

Dhoni sealed the game for his team by hitting a six off the first ball reminding the fans of the Clint McKay six that he smashed at the same venue in 2012. Then, he took a cheeky single off the next ball to finish the game and registered his 69th ODI fifty in the process.

The ICC seemed to be elated watching MS Dhoni bat that way and decided to take up the 10 Year Challenge. The official social media handles of the apex body posted a picture of one of India’s greatest limited-overs batsmen smashing sixes in 2009 as well as 2019. ‘#2009vs2019 @msdhoni still smashing sixes and finishing chases!’ the tweet read.

#2009vs2019@msdhoni still smashing sixes and finishing chases! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/fv0wvz3rnS

— ICC (@ICC) January 15, 2019

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