A file image of Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is one of the most influential players in Indian cricket history. Since his debut, Dhoni has made everyone fall in love with his aggressive style of batting and superhuman wicketkeeping stuff. Exactly 13 years ago, on the same day (October 31), the Ranchi-born batsman made history with his astonishing batting against Sri Lanka. The wicketkeeper-batsman scored 183* against a then-fierce Sri Lanka bowling line up while chasing the target of 304 runs in Jaipur, which still remains his best score in ODI cricket.
Dhoni scored more than half of the Indian runs in that match with 15 fours and 10 huge sixes. While at that time 10 sixes in an innings by a batsman was considered the stuff of dreams but now it's quite the norm thanks to the T20 format. We might have not seen that kind of hitting from the former Indian captain in recent years, but the long-haired Dhoni was the biggest match winner for the Indian team in that era.
BCCI posted the throwback video, remembering the 2011 World Cup winning skipper's destructive knock, "Throwback - On this day in 2005, @msdhoni notched his highest ODI score. KaBOOM all the way."
The stylish young Dhoni scored many outstanding centuries for India in winning causes but that innings remains his best. He was the only player for India in that chase who scored 50+ runs in that match and he smashed every Lanka bowler be it the great Muttiah Muralitharan or Chaminda Vaas.
While, in recent times Dhoni has been struggling with his batting form and that resulted into his exclusion from India's T20 team against West Indies and Australia. Though, he has been exceptional behind the wickets. So, it is the right time for the former Indian captain to silence his critics as the ICC World Cup is coming next year and the Indian team needs one last swing from Samurai Dhoni.
