Dhoni in vicinity of breaking Tendulkar’s record in NZ: The Indian wicket-keeper batsman should go past the Master Blaster in this series.
Advertisement
Former India captain and current wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s ‘Man of the Series’ performance in the recently concluded ODI series against Australia proved his credentials to the world yet again.
While his 14-year long career was already an evident of his abilities, a dismal 2018 had forced even the loyalest of his fans to doubt his skills with the bat in hand. Having said that, Dhoni scoring three consecutive half-centuries and winning a couple of matches for India changed everyone’s perception towards him.
With India now in New Zealand, Dhoni has a chance to surpass former Indian legendary batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag in terms of most runs by an Indian batsmen against New Zealand in New Zealand.
MS Dhoni In NZ (Odi)
84*, 23*, 68, 9, 40, 56, 50, 79*, 47, 85*
Average : 90.17
6 50s In 10 Innings
— CricBeat (@Cric_beat) January 21, 2019
#D_DHONI#R_REVIEW#S_SYSTEM
😍😍😍😍 #MSDHONI
FOLLOW BACK 💯👉 @DhoniDhoni77 pic.twitter.com/Y7NCPjEckb— Dhoni Kohli (@Dhoni__Kohli) January 21, 2019
In the 22 matches which Tendulkar played in New Zealand, he scored 821 runs at an average of 39.09 and a strike rate of 97.39. It is worth mentioning that four of those matches had come against other nations during the early 1990s. Therefore, Tendulkar has 652 runs in 18 matches have come at an average of 38.35 and a strike rate of 98.19 against the Kiwis on their soil.
On the other hand, Sehwag played just 12 matches in New Zealand, all against the hosts. His 598 runs had come at an average of 54.36 and a strike rate of 103.10. While Tendulkar scored a lone ODI century in New Zealand, Sehwag scored three of them.
Talking of Dhoni, in 11 matches in the nation, he has scored 541 runs at an average of 90.16 and a strike rate of 96.95. Much like Tendulkar, two of Dhoni’s match had come during a multi-team event (ICC Cricket World Cup 2015).
MS Dhoni is great player……. pic.twitter.com/BhAGADzlwb
— JAGESHVAR SHAKYA (@ShakyaJageshvar) January 21, 2019
That’s classic Dhoni for you .. the rockstar with all the experience . m.s_dhoni.7 https://t.co/1iaaRLCus4
— Ranganathan Madhavan (@ActorMadhavan) January 24, 2019
Excluding those match, Dhoni has scored 456 runs in 11 matches at an average of 76 and a strike rate of 94.60 against the Kiwis on their home turf. As a result, Dhoni needs 143 and 197 runs to surpass Sehwag and Tendulkar respectively.
While Dhoni didn’t get to bat in the first match at Napier, he would be looking to make a significant contribution in the imminent matches less for the record and more for continuing his momentum. India will face New Zealand in the second ODI at Mount Maunganui tomorrow.
