MS Dhoni’s International career in numbers

MS Dhoni turned former International cricketer on Saturday as he announced his retirement from the International cricket through a post on Instagram. Dhoni spent more than a year from Indian colours as his last appearance came during the 2019 World Cup semi-final only. Through his 15-year career in the Indian jersey, MS Dhoni had the opportunity to rejoice the Indian fans by leading India to three ICC titles – CWC, CT and WT20. Known for his finishing skills, Dhoni played a key role in Indian victories down the order for many years.

Here we look at all the major stats and numbers from MS Dhoni’s International career:

1 – MS Dhoni is the only captain to win three different ICC Trophies – ICC World T20 in 2007, ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. Overall, Ricky Ponting (4) is the only other captain to win three of more ICC titles as captain. The Australian led his team to two CWC victories (2003 & 2007) and two Champions Trophy titles (2006 & 2009).

1 – Dhoni is the only wicketkeeper to effect 100+ stumpings in the ODI format (123). His tally of 195 stumpings in International cricket is also the highest for any wicketkeeper.

2 – MS Dhoni is the only player in the history of ODI cricket to score multiple centuries while batting at No.7 or lower position. Seven of them came while batting at No.5 or lower spot; the joint-most by any player alongside Jos Buttler and Yuvraj Singh.

8 – India won each of the eight Test matches played against Australia at home when MS Dhoni was the captain. No other captain has led his team in more home Test matches against an opponent with cent win percentage.

13 – MS Dhoni finished off as many as 13 successful chases in International cricket with a six. Nine of them came in ODI cricket only which are the most by any player where the data is available. He also finished off three successful T20I chases and a successful Test chase by hitting a six.

21 – MS Dhoni has led India to 21 Test victories as captain on home soil which are the most for any Indian captain. He also led India to 74 International victories at home which are also the most for an Indian skipper.

37y 80d – MS Dhoni played his last ODI match as captain at the age of 37 years and 80 days which makes him India’s oldest ODI captain. It was incidentally his 200th match in ODI cricket making him the first Indian captain with 200 ODI caps and only the 3rd captain overall. Dhoni’s 110 ODI wins are the 2nd most for a captain behind Ricky Ponting’s 165 victories.

43 – Dhoni hit the winning shot in as many as 43 chases in International cricket. 30 of them came in the ODI cricket itself while 10 and three respectively in the T20I and Test formats.

47 – MS Dhoni remained unbeaten 47 times in successful ODI chases which are the most by any player. He was unbeaten in 15 successful T20I chases which are the joint 2nd most behind Shoaib Malik’s 17. Dhoni also ended up unbeaten in four successful 4th innings chases in Test cricket.

91 – MS Dhoni’s 91 dismissals in T20I cricket are the most by any wicketkeeper. His 829 and 444 dismissals in International cricket and ODI format respectively are the 3rd most.

98 – Dhoni featured in 98 T20I matches in his career; all of them as wicketkeeper. This makes him the most capped T20I keeper and also the most captain T20I captain having led India in 72 games in this format.

183* – MS Dhoni’s unbeaten 183 against Sri Lanka in the 2005 Jaipur ODI is the highest individual ODI score by a wicketkeeper. It was also the then highest score by any player in an ODI chase. Only Shane Watson (185* vs Bangladesh in 2011) managed to surpass Dhoni’s innings thus far. Dhoni also became the first Indian to hit 10 sixes in an ODI match during this match.

224 – Dhoni’s 224-run knock against Australia in the 2013 Chennai Test is the only double century in Test cricket by an Indian keeper. Overall, it is the 3rd highest Test score by any wicketkeeper.

229 – Dhoni, in 2017, became the first Indian to smash 200 sixes in ODI cricket. He ends his career with 229 sixes which are the 2nd most by an Indian behind Rohit Sharma’s 244. Overall, only four players hit more ODI sixes than Dhoni. The former Indian keeper-captain also finds 2nd place behind Rohit among Indians and 5th overall in the list of most sixes in International cricket for his 359 sixes.

332 – Dhoni is the most capped International captain having led India in as many as 332 matches. India won 178 matches in those 332 games making Dhoni the 2nd most successful skipper behind Ricky Ponting (332).

369 – Dhoni holds the record for scoring most runs between his two dismissals in ODI cricket. Dhoni scored as many as 369 runs in seven innings across home and away ODI series against England in 2011. His sequence read 78*, 50*, 87*, 35*, 15*, 75* and 29.

538 – MS Dhoni is the only player to feature in 500+ International matches as a wicketkeeper. He featured in 538 matches in International cricket and each of them as a designed keeper. Overall, he stands at 6th place in the list of players with most International appearances which is topped by Sachin Tendulkar with 664 matches.

8324 – Dhoni has amassed 8324 runs while batting at No.5 or lower position in ODI cricket. Other than Dhoni, only Arjuna Ranatunga (6041) has managed to score over 6000 ODI runs while batting outside the top four positions. Dhoni is also the only player to score over 5000 runs in ODI format at No.6 or lower (5155 runs).

17266 – Dhoni’s 17266 runs in his International career which are the 2nd most as a wicketkeeper behind Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 17840. Sangakkara and Dhoni are also only players with aggregate 10000+ runs in ODI cricket having scored 13341 and 10773 runs respectively. Dhoni’s 4876 Test runs as a keeper are 3rd most behind Adam Gilchrist (5570) and Mark Boucher (5515).