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Cricket Players'We had our tails up at break. But then, Dhoni came in 1st over of the innings': Ex-SL star recalls 'stunning' MS knock
The former Sri Lanka star opened up on MS Dhoni's sensational knock, that included 15 fours and 10 sixes.
Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni turned 41 on July 7 (Thursday). Widely regarded as one of the greatest captains in the history of the game, Dhoni made his India debut in December 2004, and rose to fame a few months later when he was promoted to no.3 in the batting order during a game against Pakistan, scoring 148 off just 123 deliveries. In October later that year, Dhoni produced another sensational performance at no.3 – this time against Sri Lanka – smashing an unbeaten 183 off just 145 balls as India chased down a 299-run target with over four overs to spare in Jaipur.
Russell Arnold, the former Sri Lankan cricketer who was part of the XI during the game at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, recalled Dhoni's all-out attack against the bowlers. The former India wicketkeeper hit 15 fours and 10 sixes en route to his 183 in the innings.
Arnold said that Sri Lanka were confident going into the break, having posted a strong score of 298/4 in 50 overs; however, Dhoni dented the side's spirits with his explosive approach.
"We are pretty comfortable with what we had on the board. We had Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, spin twins of Muttiah Muralitharan and Upul Chandana, and Farveez Maharoof as well. We were confident of defending the score.
“We did well. We knocked down two wickets of Sehwag and Tendulkar pretty early. But then, India sprung a surprise. Out came MS Dhoni at no.3. That told you that India, even with the batting of Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, and Venugopal Rao, thought that they had to do something special,” Arnold recalled during a chat on cricket.com.
The former Sri Lanka batter, then, spoke about how Dhoni's snatched the momentum from Sri Lanka with his hitting.
"Out he came, and quietly took control. The excitement we had during the break soon started to disappear. India got to 303/4 in the 46th over. The good thing about the Dhoni innings was we didn't have to do a lot of running, because he kept hitting out of park!
“We really did have our tails up, having that score on the board. But it was short-lived because then Dhoni came in the fifth ball of the innings. It was a different ball game from then on,” said Arnold.
