India vs Australia: MS Dhoni’s 2019 form could help him end Ranchi drought

The ‘Men in Blue’ will look to take an unassailable lead in the series after recording victories in the first two ODIs at Vizag and Nagpur respectively.

Wicket-keeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni will look end his poor record at his home ground when India take on Australia in the third ODI of the five-match series at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi on Friday.

India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni arrives to attend a training session in Ranchi. (AP)

The ‘Men in Blue’ will look to take an unassailable lead in the series after recording victories in the first two ODIs at Vizag and Nagpur respectively.

Dhoni — who played an important role in India’s win in first ODI — will look to improve his numbers at this venue. The right-hander aggregates just 30 runs in three innings across formats while he averages 21 in ODIs with a poor strike rate of 48.83.

However, these are the stats before the time Dhoni hit a purple patch in the 50-over format. In the current calendar year, Dhoni’s batting average exceeds 100 and he is only behind South Africa skipper Faf Du Plessis and Windies hard-hitter Chris Gayle in this particular list.

Best batting average in 2019 in ODIs (minimum 300 runs) –

108.0 – Faf Du Plessis (SA)

106.0 – Chris Gayle (WI)

103.3 - MS Dhoni (IND)

Meanwhile, another milestone awaits Dhoni in the third ODI as he remains just 33 runs away from completing 17,000 runs across formats — Tests: 4876; ODIs: 10474; T20Is: 1617.

Dhoni will become only the sixth India cricketer to achieve this feat after Sachin Tendulkar (34,357), Rahul Dravid (24,208), Virat Kohli (19,453), Sourav Ganguly (18,575) & Virender Sehwag (17,253).