• Home
  • Player Stories
  • Watch When A Young Ms Dhoni Put Sri Lanka To The Sword With Breathtaking 183

[Watch] When A Young MS Dhoni Put Sri Lanka To The Sword With Breathtaking 183*

image-lmhj7ux8MS Dhoni celebrates his run-chase ton vs SL in 2005 (Twitter)

On October 31, 2005 under a scorching sun in Jaipur, MS Dhoni unfurled an innings that catapulted him into the cricketing stratosphere, instantly making him a household name in doing so.

Within his first year of international cricket, the long-haired lad from Ranchi decided to belt Sri Lanka for his career-best ODI score, as he hogged the limelight from fellow wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara despite the latter’s dazzling ton in the same match.

When young MS Dhoni flogged an experienced SL attack

Team India, under Rahul Dravid, took field against Sri Lanka in ODI number three of their seven-match series on October 31, 2005 at Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Sri Lanka, being 0-2 behind the series, showed first signs of their comeback with a scintillating batting performance upfront. Opener Kumar Sangakkara cracked an unbeaten 138 while fellow senior pro Mahela Jayawardene charted a near run-a-ball 71 to engineer Sri Lanka’s total to a highly competitive 298-4.

India’s comeback man and chase veteran Sachin Tendulkar left his side early, departing for just two within the opening over at the hands of Chaminda Vaas. In a surprising move, captain Rahul Dravid promoted a then-young MS Dhoni up the order at number three.

image-lmhj9fs2MS Dhoni in action against SL in 2005 Jaipur ODI (Twitter)

Dhoni gladly accepted the opportunity and made lightwork of Sri Lanka’s total throughout India’s run-chase. The cricketer shared 92 runs with Virender Sehwag, 86 runs with skipper Dravid, 65 runs with fellow batting barbarian Yuvraj Singh and another 53 unbeaten partnership runs with Venugopal Rao to take India home with time and wickets to spare.

At the age of 24, Dhoni took on the likes of Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof and Sri Lanka’s all-time spin great Muthiah Muralidaran. While the Indian stumper ended up belting everyone with equal disdain, he took a special liking to Sri Lanka’s ODI veteran Upul Chandana in the innings.

Watch: MS Dhoni delivers knockout punch to SL with 183*

MS Dhoni eventually finished with 183* off just 145 balls, thus marking the first of his many run-chase specials from his glittering white-ball career. He dispatched 15 boundaries and 10 sixes, including the match-winning hit in his thunderous knock that took India 3-0 up in the seven-match series.