India captain MS Dhoni achieves yet another milestone

Rajkot, Oct 19: India's ODI captain MS Dhoni achieved yet another milestone in his glittering international career when he surpassed former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming during the 3rd ODI against South Africa here last night (October 18).

Ind-SA series guide" title="3rd ODI match report; Ind-SA series guide" />3rd ODI match report; Ind-SA series guide

Yesterday, India were handed an 18-run loss by South Africa at the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) Stadium. The hosts failed to chase 271, finishing with 252/6 in 50 overs. The visitors took 2-1 lead in the 5-match series. However, Dhoni achieved a personal landmark.

The 34-year-old Dhoni scored 47 and on way to that, went past Fleming in the list of most ODI runs as a captain. Only former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting is ahead of Dhoni.

Dhoni, who started his ODI career in 2004 and became the leader of the 50-over team in 2007, has so far scored 6,313 ODI runs (184 matches) as a captain. As a skipper, he has 6 hundreds and 46 half centuries.

Overall, the wicketkeeper-batsman has accumulated 8,790 ODI runs in 268 games at an average of 52.63 with 9 tons and 60 fifties.

Fleming, who captained New Zealand from 1997 to 2007, finished his career with 6,295 runs in 218 ODIs as skipper.

In the top-10 list of captains with most ODI runs, Dhoni has the best average - 56.87. The top most batsman Ponting averages 42.91 with 8,497 runs in 230 matches.

Most ODI runs as a captain (Top 5)

8,497 runs (230 matches) - Ricky Ponting (Australia)

6,313 (184) - MS Dhoni (India)

6,295 (218) - Stephen Fleming (New Zealand)

5,608 (193) - Arjuna Ranatunga (Sri Lanka)

5,416 (150) - Graeme Smith (South Africa)

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