MS Dhoni's Record In Nagpur A Big Headache For Australia

MS Dhoni has been a flesh in thorn for Australia since the start of 2019. He scored three consecutive fifties to guide India to a historic series win in Australia. Dhoni’s first knock this year was a bitter-sweet note. Although he scored a fifty in the first ODI against Australia, he faced criticism for consuming as many as 96 deliveries as India lost the game by 34 runs. But in just the following game, he made a big mark with both wicketkeeping gloves as well as the bat.

He scored an unbeaten fifty and shared fifty-plus stands with Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik to take India home and level the series.  In the third ODI, he once again starred with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 87 as India beat Australia by 7 wickets to win the three-match series 2-1. It was India’s first bilateral ODI series win Down Under.

The right-hander won the Man of the Series award for scoring 193 runs at an astronomical average of 193. This was his first Man of the Series since 2011 and he also became the oldest Indian to win this award.

Dhoni continued to torment Australia in the first ODI at home too. Chasing a modest 237, India were reeling at 99 for 4 before Dhoni joined hands with Kedar Jadhav to bail India out of trouble. He scored 59 while Jadhav scored 81 as the two shared an unbeaten stand of 141 runs to take India home.

So Dhoni has now hit four fifties in as many games against Australia this year and it looks like the wicketkeeper-batsman is set to pile more misery on the Aussies. The second game of the series will be played in Nagpur, a venue where Dhoni enjoys a great track record.

He has so far played five ODIs in Nagpur, scoring a staggering 268 runs at an impressive average of 134 including two tons. One of those tons came against Australia in 2009. Dhoni is also the top run-getter at the venue.