Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni came into the limelight after scoring his maiden ODI century against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam. There was no looking back for Dhoni from this point onward. He was Indian cricket team’s latest sensation. He was the type of wicket-keeper batsman India was starving for years.
Dhoni was handed his Test debut almost a year after his ODI debut at Chennai against Sri Lanka in 2005. Within a month and half, this swash-buckling wicket-keeper batsman had scored his maiden Test century, a feat which all cricketers aspire to achieve.
After the series against Sri Lanka, Dhoni boarded the plane to Pakistan for his next Test assignment. The inaugural match at Lahore ended in a draw. Pakistan captain, Inzaman-ul-Haq, won the toss and chose to bat in the following Test at Faisalabad. On the back of Shahid Afridi’s blazing 156 (128) and Inzamam’s 119 (193), Pakistan scored 588-10 in 136.2 overs. Rudra Pratap Singh, who made his debut in this match, was the highest wicket-taker for India in the innings with figures of 25-3-89-4.
India slipped from being at 236-1 to 281-5. Dhoni, who came in to bat at No. 6 (258-4), had to do the repair work with Irfan Pathan. India’s first goal of avoiding the follow-on was 100 runs away from this point. Having said that, all of this did not bother Dhoni for a moment. He scored runs in his most natural fashion and got the most expected support from Pathan.
Dhoni went on to score 148 (153) with the help of 19 fours and four sixes. When he got out, India were on 491-6, the follow-on was avoided and Pakistan’s lead was limited to only 97 runs. The Indian tale wagged and India managed to score 603-10 in 165.4 overs. The match went on to be a drawn encounter but India had got two new stars in Dhoni and RP Singh, who was adjourned the man of the match award.
Watch the full video of Dhoni’s innings: