Internet Desk: Former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is now the most successful wicketkeeper for India in the T20 Internationals as he stumped two Sri Lankan batsmen and caught two catches in the same match at Barabati stadium, Cuttack on Wednesday.
With these two dismissals Dhoni moved up to the first spot with 74 dismissals in 84 games with 47 catches and 27 stumpings. Previously, AB de Villiers was on top of the list with, 72 dismissals in 78 games. Dhoni needed just two dismissals to go to the top of the list before the opening T20I against Sri Lanka.
According to K.L Rahul, opening batsman for India said the former captain is still a match winner for men in blue and continues to be an inspiration for the dressing room.
Dhoni made unbeaten 39 in 22 balls before affecting four dismissals behind the stumps to help India to register a massive 93 runs win over Sri Lanka. Thus Dhoni became the first in the list with the most number of dismissals in the shortest format of the game. Meanwhile, Dhoni became the second wicketkeeper after Pakistan’s Kamran Akmal to effect more than 200 dismissals in T20I.
“I see him (Dhoni) as motivated in the dressing room as I always have. He’s somebody we look up to, he’s a match winner and he will always be one,” Rahul said at the post-match news conference last night.
“He is in great shape, and he almost killed me as soon as he came into bat,” he added with a smile referring to a brutal shot by Dhoni to get off the mark yesterday. After Rahul left the job unfinished getting out for 61, Dhoni played the finisher’s role to perfection with a 22-ball 39 not out with four boundaries and a six to lift India to 180 for 3.
The target was way too many for Sri Lanka as they slumped to their sixth consecutive T20 defeat in their 100th appearance in the shortest format of the game.
Read More: World Cup 2019 fixed? Dhoni’s twitter activity shows something fishy
“I don’t know what form you are talking about but every time I switch on the TV, or play with him in the dressing room, he always seems to get runs,” Rahul said strongly backing Dhoni.
Besides his good show with the bat, Dhoni also accounted for two catches and two stumpings to surpass South African great AB de Villiers in the record for most dismissals in T20Is.
In his last outing at the Barabati Stadium here, an ODI against England in January this year, Dhoni had smashed a 122 -ball 134 in India’s mammoth 381 for six en route to a 15-run victory.
“The last time he was here he got a massive hundred. He’s been contributing really well in every game,” Rahul said about his senior teammate. Making a return after being dropped in the ODI series, Rahul top-scored for India to grab the opportunity in the absence of regular opener Shikhar Dhawan.
“Every innings is important. With the the kind of competition in the team whatever opportunity you get you need to go out there and make it count,” the 25-year-old said.