
After receiving flak for his captaincy during the ODI series in Australia, which India lost 1-4, MS Dhoni seems to be coming back into his groove in the T20I series that India clinched with a 27-run victory in Melbourne on Friday. And en route, a couple of records fell into the Indian skipper’s lap.
Dhoni, who has already surpassed Sourav Ganguly as India’s most successful captain, is now the only Indian skipper to have won a bilateral series in Australia, which is also also the only instance of India achieving the feat in any format of the game.
It was Dhoni’s second series win in Australia, taking into account the 2008 CB series win where they beat the hosts in a best-of-three final.
Overall, this is India’s only third ever series win on Australian soil across all formats, after the World Championship of Cricket, which came under Sunil Gavaskar’s captaincy in 1985, and the CB Series in 2008.
Also entering the record books was Dhoni the wicketkeeper whose two stumpings in the victory at MCG on Friday took him past Kumar Sangakkara’s world record of 139 stumpings in international cricket.
Dhoni’s swift glovework found Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner out of the crease to take his tally to 140.
Former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Romesh Kaluwitharna is third on the list with 101 stumpings to his name, followed by Pakistan’s Moin Khan (93) and Australia’s Adam Gilchrist (92).
Leading the three-match T20I series 2-0, India now stand one win away from another record – a whitewash against Australia in Australia.
Seen many keepers, but none better than Dhoni when it comes to whipping the bails out in a flash. No wonder he has the record now.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) January 29, 2016
Started as an ordinary wicketkeeper…will finish with most stumpings in the history of the game. Well done, Dhoni👏👏
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) January 29, 2016
Dhoni becomes the first Indian captain to win a bilateral series on Australian soil…and two series win (in Aus) overall. 👏👏👏