Mahendra Singh Dhoni played another match-winning knock as the Virat Kohli-led side got off to a winning start in the ODI series against Australia. India defeated Australia by six wickets in the opening encounter at the Rajeev Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Dhoni, who has been in fine form with the bat in 2019, continued his terrific run.
Former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit the ground again with a new record and become the fourth Indian batsman to complete 13000 runs in the list of cricket.
Dhoni smashed 13054 runs 412 list matches at an average of 50.79.
MS Dhoni the veteran wicketkeeper also joined the elite group of veteran cricketers club, embrace by Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid who achieved the same milestone in their careers.
Tendulkar, the highest run-scorer in the history of ODI cricket, scored 21999 runs in his long career. Ganguly scored 15622 runs while Dravid scored 15271 runs in 449 matches. The list is topped by England legend Graham Gooch with 22,211 runs in the List cricket.
Meanwhile, Indian skipper Kohli is 981 runs away from becoming the fifth Indian batsman to complete 13,000 runs in List cricket. He has 12,019 runs in 257 games under his belt.
His innings was part of an unbeaten 141-run stand with Kedar Jadhav for the fifth wicket and in the process, he became the fourth Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid to cross 13,000 runs in List cricket.
On Saturday, India were put to chase a target of 238 by Australia in Hyderabad and were placed precariously on 99/4 in the 24th over when Dhoni was joined in the middle by Kedar Jadhav. The pair ensured that India doesn't lose any more wickets and went about pacing the innings in their own leisure.
Both the teams are likely to go with an unchanged playing XI.
Earlier, India had lost the T20I series by 2-0. Both the matches ended in the final over of the match with Glenn Maxwell shining on both the occasions.
India and Australia will now play second ODI of the series at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Tuesday.
