MS Dhoni Records Second-Lowest Strike-Rate By An Indian In T20Is
After an impressive tour of Australia and New Zealand, MS Dhoni had a night to forget in the first T20I against Australia on Sunday. Dhoni had entered the series after some scintillating displays in Australia and New Zealand. He scored three consecutive fifties to guide India to a historic series win in Australia before doing well in the subsequent series against New Zealand. However, things did not fall into place for Dhoni on Sunday.
He came to the crease when India were reeling at 80 for 3. The situation demanded a cautious approach and Dhoni did exactly that. However, with wickets falling on regular intervals, he never really managed to break the shackles. The former India skipper faced 37 deliveries and ended up with just 29 runs.
Dhoni managed to hit just one boundary in his innings which is the most number of balls faced by an Indian in a T20I innings for hitting one or fewer boundaries. The previous highest was 35 balls by Ravindra Jadeja during the 2009 WT20 game against England. Jadeja hit only one four during his 35-ball stay for 25 runs.
Not only that, Dhoni now finds himself in the list of Indian batsmen with low strike rates facing at least 35 or more deliveries in an innings. His strike rate of 78.38 in the first T20I was second lowest by an Indian batsman after Ravindra Jadeja, who holds the record with a strike rate on 71.42. Dinesh Mongia is third in the list with a strike rate of 84.44 he registered while scoring 38 off 45 balls against South Africa in 2006.
Dhoni already has the second slowest half-century in one day internationals by an Indian batsman. Dhoni had scored 50 from 108 balls against West Indies in Antigua in 2017.
Australia, meanwhile, had gone on to win the game by three wickets to take an unassailable 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Tagged:
MS Dhoni
