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MS Dhoni Caught The Eyes Of National Selectors With His Flamboyant Batting - Watch

MS Dhoni batting for India A in 2004 [Instagram]MS Dhoni batting for India A in 2004 [Instagram]

MS Dhoni has long been an integral part of the Indian cricket team. He has been the hero many Indian wins and elevated the skill of finishing a match for his team to such level that he came to be called as the best in the art. 

However, batting and excelling for most part of his career made the fans forget about one key aspect of MSD, top order batting. MS Dhoni's numbers will give you the idea that while he was an excellent finisher, he was even batter at number three in the ODI format. 

MS Dhoni's record at number 3 in ODIs

If we look at his numbers at number three in ODIs then we find that he has batted in the position in 16 innings and has scored 993 runs in them at an average of 82.75 and a strike rate of 99.69. Two of his ten centuries came at this position along with six half-centuries. An awe-inspiring fact is that he has scored over 50 runs, 50% of the time he has batted at the position. 

Incidentally he caught the eyes of the national selectors while batting at the same position back in 2004. MS Dhoni was a part of the India A team that tourned Kenya during the August-September month of the year. MS received the Player of the Tournament award in the limited overs series for his exception batting throughout. 

MS Dhoni tore apart the Pakistan A bowling

Recently a video has surfaced of MS Dhoni's batting in the tournament on Instagram. In the video he is seen destroying the Pakistan A bowlers to all parts of the ground with unmatchable grace and f flamboyance. This is from the innings that he played on 19th August at the Nairobi Cricket Ground. India A were chasing 235 in this game, thanks to Gautam Gambir (79 off 100 balls) and MS Dhoni (119* off 134 balls), that India chased down the targe with ease in 45 overs losing only two wickets.

Dhoni finished the series with 362 runs in six innings at an average of 72.40 and a strike rate of 90.15. The brilliant show by the wicket-keeper batter grabbed the eyes of the selectors and Dhoni got his first break in the international arena in December that year against Bangladesh.