Top 5 Cricketers of the Week – 17th January – 22nd January

#2 MS Dhoni – 134 v England, Cuttack

Dhoni was back to his belligerent best

MS Dhoni was the other half of the brilliant 256-run partnership that helped India post a defendable total at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Dhoni was slow off the blocks, going at a strike-rate below 50 when three wickets had fallen quickly when he joined Yuvraj. But, he finished with 134 off just 122 balls which consisted of 10 fours and 6 sixes. Dhoni added 42 with Jadhav (in 3 overs) and another 35 with Hardik Pandya (in 2 overs) to ensure India got the final push for the big score.

Thanks to Dhoni’s pyrotechnics, India, looking to post about 325, ended up with 381, a score that was still hard to defend. England eventually lost only by 15 runs, demonstrating the significance of the Dhoni innings. This was Dhoni’s 10^th ODI century and the first since he gave up captaincy.