Dhoni, who had scored only 3 runs in the previous match, smacked the Pakistani bowlers all around the park this time to score 148 off just 123 balls. His blitzkrieg included 15 fours and four sixes.
India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni plays a shot during the 2019 Cricket World Cup group stage match between South Africa and India at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, southern England, on June 5, 2019. (Photo by Dibyangshu SARKAR / AFP)
The date was April 5, 2005, when India wicketkeeper-batsman and former skipper MS Dhoni scored the maiden ton of his illustrious career.
It was India against Pakistan in the second ODI of the six-match series. Then India skipper Sourav Ganguly won the toss and decided to bat first against the arch-rivals at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
The Men in Blue lost opener Sachin Tendulkar (2) and got reduced to 26/1. Ganguly decided to promote Dhoni up in the batting order and the wicketkeeper-batsman, who had scored only 3 runs in the previous match, smacked the Pakistani bowlers all around the park this time to score 148 off just 123 balls. His blitzkrieg included 15 fours and four sixes.
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Since then the swashbuckling batsman never looked back and went on to score 10 ODI tons, including the famous and career-best 183 not out off 145 balls against Sri Lanka in 2005.
Dhoni last played a competitive match was the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 semifinal where the Men in Blue were knocked out of the tournament after losing to New Zealand.
Since then, there has been a lot of speculation revolving around Dhoni’s future because neither has he made himself available for selection nor has he announced his retirement.
The Ranchi lad was about to re-enter the arena of competitive cricket with the commencement of IPL 2020, but uncertainty looms around Dhoni’s future now as mega-event itself is postponed till 15 April in view of the dreaded coronavirus pandemic.
Dhoni had even started training for the season but a couple of weeks back when the situation started worsening in India, he moved back to his hometown.
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