M S Dhoni’s brilliant and defiant knock of 82 in the first innings at Oval in the fifth Test is once again the testament of his ability to bat under tremendous pressure and in overseas conditions. He already has scored four half-centuries on this tour – the highest by an Indian batsmen in this series – and what makes them more special is that they have all come at a time when the conditions were extremely odd, all other Indian batsmen were struggling to score runs, and there was only the tail to support him from the other end. MS Dhoni managed to build a partnership of 58 runs with India’s last batsmen Ishant Sharma at the Oval, which helped India to a score of 148 runs in their first innings.
Image Courtesy : BCCI.TV
One will be surprised that the selfless cricketer is the highest Asian wicket-keeper batsmen to have scored maximum number of fifties overseas – Australia, South Africa, England and West Indies. More than that no other Asian wicket-keeper batsmen has scored more runs than him in these countries – which are known to be extreme test of your batting technique and temperament. The Indian skipper has managed to get 1663 Test runs here.
Also, with an average of 32.6, he has the second highest batting average as an Asian wicket-keeper batsmen abroad after India’s Farookh Engineer.
Moreover, he is now the highest run scorer for India in the last two overseas tour. He has 466 runs from seven Tests whereas Ajinkya Rahane has 457 runs followed by Murali Vijay who has got 448 runs from same number of Tests.
Interesting stats of MS Dhoni, the batsmen:
• Has the most number of 50 plus scores by an Asian wicket-keeper batsmen in overseas ( England, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand )
• Most runs scored by an Asian wicket-keeper batsman in overseas – 1663 runs
• Has the second highest batting average of 32.6 after Farookh Engineer in overseas tours. Engineer averaged 36.
• Highest runs scorer for India in the last two overseas tour – New Zealand & England. Has totaled 466 runs from 7 matches.
( The list of wicket-keeper batsmen includes Rashid Latif, Moin khan, Syed Kirmani, Kiran More, Kumara Sangakkara, Kamran Akmal and Nuwan Kaluwitharana )
