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Mahendra Singh Dhoni makes his mark at Ahmedabad
An unknown till six months ago, Mahendra Singh Dhoni makes
his mark in Indian cricket with a blistering 148 runs at
Ahmedabad against Pakistan
Latest
story on Dhoni
OUR SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
April 6, 2005: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who promoted to the crucial No. 3
slot in the Indian cricket team, cracked 148, which set the tone and tenor of the host's 58-run victory with 5.5 overs to spare in the second encounter of the six-match Pepsi Cup limited-overs
cricket series at the ACA-VDCA Stadium here on Tuesday. The 23-year-old cracked an explosive 148 on Tuesday, including 16 fours and four big sixes, helping India to their highest-ever total against Pakistan and a 58-run victory.
Dhoni shared a 96-run stand for the second wicket with Virender Sehwag (74 off 40 balls, including 60 in boundaries) and 149 for the fourth with Rahul Dravid (52) as India amassed 356 for nine and then bowled out Pakistan for 298. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was crowned man of the match for his efforts.
The 23-year-old had batted at No. 7 at Kochi and scored just three. But the Jharkand lad made the most of the opportunity and became only the second Indian wicketkeeper after Rahul Dravid — and the first specialist 'keeper — to notch up an ODI century. His previous highest was 12.
Enthusiastic and robust, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is strong square of the wicket and a clean striker of the ball. He also has tons of energy and ran his singles hard. He then came back to keep wickets and held two catches. The Ranchi-born had two reprieves while batting. When on 77, his hoick off Hafeez was dropped by Naved-ul-Hasan at the deep mid-wicket boundary. The other was at 126, when wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal missed a stumping, even as the batsman gave Afridi the charge.
Dhoni was pleased with both his batting and wicket keeping. "It was a good opportunity and I grabbed it. I was not at all surprised when I was sent at one down," Dhoni said.
It's good that a (regular) wicketkeeper is batting well, observed the Indian captain, Saurav Ganguly, on the good knock by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Until six months back Mahendra Singh Dhoni was a rank outsider in the pack of three competing for the wicketkeeper’s slot in the Indian team. Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Kaarthick and Dhoni in the order were the selector’s choice.
But, the Jharkhand-based stumper continued to smash hurricane hundreds to steal ahead of his two competitors.
The 26-year-old underlined his potential yesterday with a swashbuckling 148 from 123 balls against Pakistan, his maiden one-day hundred, at Visakhapatnam.
"I don’t drink alcohol, in any case I don’t like the taste of beer," says Mahendra Singh
Dhoni. He told mediapersons that it was Rahul Dravid’s suggestions that kept him going.
OUR SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
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