MS Dhoni becomes second most capped cricketer for India

On September 23, 2018, former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the second most capped cricketer for India. In the India vs Pakistan Super Four match at the 2018 Asia Cup, Dhoni played his 505th international game for India in all formats.

Before Dhoni, Rahul Dravid was the second most capped cricketer for India, who represented India in 504 international matches. Now Dhoni is only behind Sachin Tendulkar who leads the chart with a record 664 matches for India in all formats.

The 37-year-old wicket-keeper has represented India in 322 One Day International matches and is just 95 runs short of his 10,000 ODI runs for the country. Dhoni also represented India in 93 T20 Internationals and has made 1487 runs. Before retiring from the longest format of the game, he played 90 matches for India and scored 4876 runs. Dhoni has also represented Asia XI in three ODIs.

Two other former India captains are part of the top 5 players to represent India on the most occasions - Mohammad Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly. Azharuddin played 433 international matches (99 Tests and 334 ODIs) for India, while Sourav Ganguly represented the country in 421 international matches (113 Tests and 308 ODIs).

Dhoni, who is the most successful ODI captain in the history of Indian cricket, holds many other records as well. He holds the record of playing the most number of international matches as captain, captaining team India for a record 331 matches. Dhoni also holds the record for being the only captain to win all three ICC tournaments - ODI World Cup (won in 2011), T20 World Cup (won in 2007) and Champions Trophy (won in 2013).

Dhoni who is currently the most experienced player in the Indian team has been backed by many to continue till the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.