India Vs WI 5th ODI: Dhoni at the brink of a couple of milestones

As India meet the West Indies in the fifth ODI at Thiruvananthapuram, Dhoni is at the brink of crossing a couple of milestones.

For India, Dhoni is batting on 9999 career ODI runs. He is just one run short of reaching 10000 runs in ODI playing for India. He has already crossed 10000 runs in ODIs, but not all of those runs came while playing for India.

Dhoni’s aggregate of runs in ODIs at present stands at 10,173 in 331 matches at an average of 50. However, during the 2007 Afro-Asia Cup, while representing Asia XI, Dhoni scored 2,33 and 139 not out. Since these matches were granted international status by the ICC, those 174 runs scored by Dhoni in that series was added to his total tally of ODI runs. Hence, on the eve of the 5th ODI against the West Indies, Dhoni is one run short of scoring 10,000 ODI runs for India. He should cross this milestone at Thiruvananthapuram if he gets an opportunity to bat.

Dhoni batting on 9999 for India

Dhoni will be the fifth Indian to achieve this feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli.

In wicket-keeping too, Dhoni is at the brink of surpassing Mark Boucher’s record. At the moment, Dhoni shares the No. 3 spot with Mark Boucher for the most number of dismissals behind the wickets in ODIs. Both Dhoni and Mark Boucher have 424 dismissals each.

Dhoni is certainly expected to surpass Boucher at Thiruvananthapuram. Only Adam Gilchrist (472) and Sangakkara(482) are above him. Dhoni already has the world record for the most number of stumpings at 115.

Dhoni should be looking forward to crossing the above two milestones in the fifth ODI against West Indies in Thiruvananthapuram. Otherwise, he will have to wait till the New Year to go past these milestones.

Other milestones for India in the fifth ODI

Both Dhawan and Rohit are in with a chance of scoring 1000 runs for the year after Kohli

# Rohit Sharma is just 33 runs short of scoring 1000 runs for 2018. He has amassed 967 runs in 2018 from 14 completed innings at an average of 69.

# Shikhar Dhawan has scored 891 runs in 2018 at an average of 52. He is 109 runs shy of 1000 runs for the year. He is due for a big score.

# Dhawan is 71 runs shy of reaching 5000 ODI runs.

# Jadeja is 18 runs short of completing 2000 runs in ODIs

# Bhuvneshwar Kumar is 2 wickets short of 100 wickets in ODIs.

# If India manage to win the 5th ODI, it will be their 8th consecutive bilateral series win against the West Indies. The last time the West Indies won an ODI series against India was in 2002.

Since the World Cup win in 2011 at home, India have lost only two bilateral ODI series at home. The Men in Blue lost to Pakistan and South Africa in 2013 and 2015 respectively.

It would be an uphill task for the West Indies to draw level in the series. If they manage to do so, it will be a moral victory for the West Indies. Hence, the fifth and final ODI at Thiruvananthapuram assumes so much importance for both the teams.