MS Dhoni: Not Out King
by dillinger10
cricketwindies.com staff
MS Dhoni has scored 1069 runs in 62 T20I innings. His current average is a gaudy 35.63, yet he has a high score of just 48. He is the only batsman in T20I history with 700+ runs and 0 fifties to his name. Ireland's Gary Wilson has the second most runs scored (673) without notching a T20I fifty.
For comparison, Virat Kohli tops the list with 16 scores of 50+. Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum are tied for second with 15. Faf du Plessis' numbers are almost to Dhoni's (1093 runs and 37.68 average) yet he has 8 scores of 50+ to Dhoni's 0.
Dhoni's average is boosted by an inordinate number of not outs. He has finished not out in 32 of his 62 innings (51.6%) JP Duminy (21) has the second highest number of not out innings. No one even comes close to matching Dhoni's percentage of not out innings. Thisara Perera is second on the list at 39.5%. Misbah-ul-Haq, Preston Mommsen and Michael Hussey are the only other batsman with a not out percentage above 35%.
When batting second, Dhoni's average rises to 49.80. He has finished unbeaten in 17 of his 27 innings (62.9%) with India winning 12 of those matches (70.5%). Dhoni's average (49.80) is the third highest when batting second. Kohli sits atop of the list with a Bradman-like average of 91.80.
His numbers over the last two years are even more eye-popping. 13 of his 18 innings have resulted in him finishing not out. He has an average of 49.40, yet a high score of just 30, and passed 20 on just 3 other occasions.
A large reason why Dhoni has accumulated so many not outs is that he almost never comes to the crease before the 10th over. He is very reluctant to come in early in an innings, and will often lower himself down the order as a result. Over the last year, he has dropped further and further down the order, bouncing between no 6 and no 7.
Once considered to be the best finisher in the game, he is now content with playing second fiddle to the prodigious Kohli.
One further statistical anomaly. In his 62 T20I innings, Dhoni has never once been adjudged lbw. A record even Javed Miandad would be envious of.
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