MS Dhoni, the name itself is enough to create a sense of fear in the heart of a bowler, at least that was the case a couple of years ago. Now, with his future uncertain to be picked for the Indian cricket team with the emergence of young players like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul, it might be difficult for the two times World Cup-winning captain of the Indian team to find a way back into the team.
Dhoni, however, has been a name entrusted by many to finish a match with his unorthodox shot-making and the ability to find the boundary on a regular basis. He has had his pick of bowlers whom he has been pretty fond of facing and in the following lines, we will look at five of his favorite bowlers when it came to hitting the ball out of the park.
#1 Muttiah Muralitharan
Dhoni used to be very fond of facing this Sri Lankan off-spinner, whose “doosra”s were otherwise nightmares for most batsmen in the world. MSD used to face him with absolute ease and the stats are proof enough for that. Muralitharan has been the bowler who has been picked for the most runs by Dhoni, with the total tally being 268 as far as ODI’s are concerned.
#2 Lasith Malinga
Another Sri Lankan bowler extremely difficult to pick for the opposing batsmen is surprisingly on the second spot in the list for MSD’s most favorite bowlers. While the world struggled to find an answer for his toe-crushing workers, Dhoni seemed to take pleasure in hitting him all around the park with the minimum of fuss. He has picked up 232 runs off Malinga’s bowling in ODI’s to date.
#3 Shahid Afridi
The Pakistani all-rounder is on number three in the list for the most favorite bowlers that MSD has faced. A total tally of 207 ODI runs off his bowling shows that Afridi’s faster ones and googly’s were not of much use against the former Indian skipper.
#4 Sanath Jayasuriya
It seems that Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a fair bit of liking for the Sri Lankan bowlers during his time out on the pitch with the bat in his hand. He sent the ball to the boundary on a number of occasions against the former captain of the Sri Lankan team, Sanath Jayasuriya, as he made a total of 185 runs against Jayasuriya’s left-arm orthodox spin.
#5 James Faulkner
The only Australian on the list is the left-arm medium-pacer James Faulkner, whom Dhoni has hit to the boundary on several occasions, scoring a total of 182 runs of him in the ODI’s.
