Batting in his 300th one-day international, MS Dhoni remained unbeaten on 49 as India posted a mammoth total of 375/5 after choosing to bat first against Sri Lanka in the fourth and penultimate game in Colombo on Thursday.
While the former India captain ended up one short of his half-century, the innings helped him notch up his 73rd unbeaten knock, the most by any cricketer in ODIs. He has scored 3750 runs in those 73 innings.
He smashed five boundaries and one six during the fine knock.
Coming into bat at a time when India lost three quick wickets, Dhoni was calm and composed, and steadied India’s ship in his typical style.
After running off to 225/1 in 28 overs, India were well on their way to a 400-plus score. A spell of four overs, however, nearly derailed India’s chances of a big score as they slumped to 274/5.
Dhoni combined well with Manish Pandey to take India close to the 400-run mark. While Pandey scored a half-century, Dhoni ended up a run short of his fifty. The duo put on an unbeaten stand of 101.
Earlier, fine centuries by Virat Kohli (131) and Rohit Sharma (104) had set the base for India’s big total.