In 2005, today was the day when MS Dhoni blasted his way to his career-best ODI score of 183 against Sri Lanka at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur. However, before that game, he had already announced his arrival when he hammered 148 off 123 balls against Pakistan earlier the same year. That knock established Dhoni as one of the most reliable Indian batsmen.
However, what followed was a series of low scores until he smashed two fifties in a tri-series in Zimbabwe to get back into rhythm. In the third ODI of the 7-match series, Sri Lanka posted a decent score of 298/4 after electing to bat.
India did not get an ideal start as the legendary Sachin Tendulkar departed in the first over leaving the hosts 7/1. However, Dhoni was promoted to bat at No.3 and after a watchful first 7 deliveries he faced, he unleashed himself by smashing a six over cover off Chaminda Vaas to get India up and running.
ALSO READ: Sourav Ganguly Justifies MS Dhoni’s Exclusion From The T20 Squad
Dhoni and opener Virender Sehwag that took the attack back to the Sri Lankan bowlers to built a strong 92-run partnership before the opener was dismissed by Muttiah Muralitharan. But that did not stop Dhoni from playing attacking cricket as he forged another 86-run stand with skipper Rahul Dravid. Dhoni then put on 65 runs with Yuvraj Singh before Venugopal Rao played second fiddle to take India over the line.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BplZrwJn4aa/?taken-by=indiancricketteam
MS Dhoni scored 183* off 145 balls, hitting 15 fours and 10 sixes, as India reached the target with 23 balls and 6 wickets in hand. He made his India debut under Sourav Ganguly in an ODI against Bangladesh at Chittagong in December 2004.
Ganguly believed in giving chance to youngsters and he even gave up his batting positions to fit in a player. After a few poor performances, Dhoni was promoted to bat at No.3 and he proved his worth with a thunderous 148 against Pakistan and then a few months later blasted his way to 183 against Sri Lanka.
ALSO READ: Yuvraj’s six gigantic sixes off Broad in 2007
Dhoni was later named as India skipper for the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 in South Africa. He guided a young Indian side to the title after India defeated Pakistan by five runs in the final. He is the only captain in cricket’s rich history to win all the ICC trophies, as he lifted World Cup and Champions Trophy 2013.
In Decemeber 2014, Dhoni took retirement from Test cricket and decided to step down as captain of the limited-overs teams in January 2017. He has scored 10173 runs from 331 ODIs at an average of 50.11 with the help of 10 centuries and 67 fifties. He is going through one of the worst phases in his international cricket career at the moment and has struggled to put up 275 runs from 19 ODIs in 2018.
