On a day when he marked his 300th appearance in the ODI format, MS Dhoni continued to send the record books tumbling with his characteristic display with both bat and gloves.
The former Indian skipper’s unbeaten 49 off 42 deliveries in the visitor’s imposing score of 375 was the 73rd instance of Dhoni remaining not-out in 50-over competition.
With this innings, he overtook Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas and South Africa’s Shaun Pollock as the batsman with the most number of unbeaten knocks in ODI history.
Dhoni also became the first batsman to hold a batting overage of over 50 having played over 300 ODIs – he now averages 52.20 with the bat.
There were still a couple of milestones which the Ranchi-born maverick missed out on Thursday, though.
The 36-year-old came in to bat after Angelo Mathews’ double-strike had reduced India to 262-4 as the boundaries dried up for the visitors. With the hosts looking for a way back into the game, Dhoni suppressed any ambitions Sri Lanka had by doing what he does best, finishing.
The experienced veteran kept his calm and composure to combine with Manish Pandey to ensure that India finished strongly after a late wobble.
His single off the penultimate delivery of India’s innings meant that the wicketkeeper-batsman will need at least one more match to join an elite group of players with 100 half-centuries in the 50-over format.
Dhoni had a busy day behind the stumps in the second-half of the game where he claimed three catches.
However, the man who had recently levelled Kumar Sangakkara’s record of 99 stumpings, was left hanging in his hunt for a century of such dismissals.
As he continues to prove his detractors wrong with every passing game, there is no doubt that those records too will tumble in due course.