Indian wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni returned to a favourable form on Sunday when he scored causative 79 runs off 88 balls to help India win the first ODI against Australia at Chepauk, Chennai.
Besides Dhoni, Hardik Pandya excelled with both bat and ball as he first smashed an 83-run knock and then took two wickets to propel India to a 26-run victory via Duckworth Lewis method.
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Celebrating the triumph, let’s take a quick recap of statistics that we missed last night amidst the entertaining show of Dhoni.
Why is Chepauk so special?
India’s 26-run triumph was their first in two ODIs against Australia at Chepauk. Earlier at this venue on October 9, 1987, they lost by one run to the Aussies.
So far so incredible, India’s star campaigner Dhoni averages 100-plus in ODI cricket at Chepauk. He has scored 401 runs here in six innings, decorated by 250, at an average of 100.25.
Playing his 66th ODIs against Australia, Dhoni’s slammed his seventh ODI half-century.
Also read: Smith calls Pandya-Dhoni partnership stand ‘the game-changer’
Recently, Dhoni has made a noteworthy comeback as he now averages 89.57 in ODIs this year after a poor season last year averaging 27.80. Having batted in 14 innings, the 36-year-old has scored 627 runs, including a century and five fifties. This was marked to be Dhoni’s best performance in terms of averages in a calendar year.
Dhoni managed 241 runs before being dismissed last night against Australia in ODIs. Against Sri Lanka in his previous four innings, he had remained unbeaten.
With 212 sixes, Dhoni became one of the five batsmen to have hit 200 sixes or more in ODI cricket. The other four in the list are Shahid Afridi (351), Sanath Jayasuriya (270), Chris Gayle (238) and Brendon McCullum (200).
In India’s ODIs win, Dhoni averages 75-plus with an aggregative score of 5878, avaraging 75.35 in 170 matches. It is the highest among the batsmen with at least 4000 runs in wins.
(With inputs from agencies)
