Debasis Sen, Colombo: Indian Captain Virat Kohli paid a fitting tribute to MS Dhoni today ahead of the fourth ODI at the R Premadasa Stadium. The former Indian captain, who was playing his 300th ODI, was felicitated by the Indian team members. Dhoni was presented a platinum bat by Virat.
Later the Indian captain paid a grand tribute to the former captain by saying, “90 percent of us started our careers under you. It is an honour to give this memento to him. You will always remain our captain.”
The man of the moment, Dhoni himself looked quite emotional as all the Indian players shook hands with him one after another.
Dhoni became the sixth Indian and 20th overall to feature in 300 one-day internationals. Only Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Md. Azharuddin and Yuvraj Singh have achieved the milestone of playing 300 ODI’s for the country.
The Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batsman who played his first ODI back in 2004 has stepped down as India’s limited-overs captain after nearly 10 years at the helm.
As rightly pointed out by Virat, many of the present cricketers in the Indian team made their debuts under Dhoni and owe their careers to his leadership and guidance. Current skipper Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and a host of others were drafted into the side and persisted with by Dhoni, who is the most successful Indian captain ever.
This is how twitter reacted to celebrate Dhoni’ s 300th ODI’s.
Wearing the ODI cap for the 300th time is definitely a special achievement! Hope you have a great game today, @msdhoni! #Dhoni300 pic.twitter.com/y6DrhdJ4Rx
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 31, 2017
The iconic wicketkeeper-batsman @msdhoni gets ready for his 300th ODI match! My wishes to the man who always inspires me!#INDvsSL #Dhoni300 pic.twitter.com/m7mVc7IbMd
— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) August 31, 2017
Congratulations legend @msdhoni for 300 ODI’s.With the start,looks like Virat is going to make it xtra special by a really big one#Dhoni300
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) August 31, 2017
To a special player on a special day #Dhoni300 #SLvIND pic.twitter.com/4KaDZH5yhF — Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) August 31, 2017
Humara Mann kehta he ye itne me se khush hone Wala nahin he.A true patriot,master cricketer & a wonderful human. Congratulations #Dhoni300 https://t.co/ys5wZGa0YC — Sushant Singh Rajput (@itsSSR) August 31, 2017