Back in 2005, after beating Pakistan in the first ODI in Kochi, India headed to Vizag trying to notch up another win in the six match ODI series.
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Batting first, India got off to a flyer thanks to Sehwag as he tore into the Pakistan attack. At the fall of the first wicket, the crowd were expecting to see ‘Dada’ to come out, but were surprised to see their new long maned wicket keeper striding out to the middle.
As history would tell us, that day in Vizag turned out to be a monumental day in Indian cricket, as MS Dhoni smashed his maiden century and exploded into a superstar.
Today, the Ranchi man is a bona fide megastar and a legend of the game. Not since Tendulkar has one man’s actions on the cricket field impacted the lives of a billion people watching at home.
While he is no longer the captain of India, Dhoni remains an extremely popular man, with some even saying that his popularity has risen over the past year.
Now he is in a unique position as he can become the fourth fastest batsman to reach reach 10,000 runs in ODI cricket.
Dhoni requires 109 more runs to reach this amazing milestone and will be the fourth Indian after Sachin, Saurav and Dravid to do so.
Mahi will also be only the second wicket keeper after Kumar Sangakara to reach the milestone which will further underline his status as one of the all-time greats.
This is Dhoni’s first competitive match since the last T20 between India and Sri Lanka back in December. Mahi was not part of India’s test series loss to South Africa, as he was busy recharging his batteries ahead of the limited overs series.
India will face South Africa in the first ODI in Durban tomorrow, as Kohli’s men will try and avenge their test series loss by coming up trumps in the ODI and T20I series.
After a moral boosting win in the third test match at Johannesburg, India will be confident of their chances in coloured clothing, as they will look to start off brightly in Durban tomorrow.
