Unique ODI records held by MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni is one of the most successful players in Indian cricket history. He is the best wicket-keeper batsman India has ever had. The talismanic player has achieved everything in World Cricket. He captained the Indian team for almost a decade and under his captaincy, Team India reached its pinnacle.

Dhoni has achieved the rare feat of winning a 50-over World Cup, World T20 and Champions Trophy to his name. He has also won Asia Cup as captain. Apart from being a great limited-overs captain, Dhoni was also an astute Test captain. Under his captaincy, India reached the number one ranking in Tests.

The former India skipper has a lot of records to his name, especially in ODIs. While many of these records like being the wicket-keeper with highest number of stumpings in international cricket, scoring the highest individual score by a wicket-keeper in ODIs are well known, there are a few records that even a die-hard Dhoni fan might not know of.

Let us take a look at 5 unique ODI records held by MS Dhoni.

#5 Most number of not outs in ODIs

Dhoni after finishing a match against Sri Lanka

One of the things that is loved and admired about MS Dhoni is his ability to get his team over the line. While many batsmen throw their wicket away at the end of the innings, Dhoni believes in batting till the end. He is arguably the best finisher in world cricket.

Dhoni has played some miraculous innings at the end of innings and has anchored a lot of run chases. In the process, he has made a unique record to his name. Dhoni has remained not out 78 times in ODIs, which is highest by any player.

#4 Highest number of runs at number 6 in ODIs

Dhoni has been fantastic for India playing in the lower-middle order

MS Dhoni has been flexible with his batting position and has batted at almost every position in the batting order. However, for the most part of his career, he has batted at number 6.

Even though Dhoni had remarkable numbers batting at number 3, he shifted to the lower-order for the team's cause. Dhoni does the difficult task of batting in the death overs and has been highly successful in doing so.

So far in ODIs, Dhoni has batted at number 6 in 125 innings and has scored 4024 runs at an outstanding average of 46.79. Dhoni has the record of the most runs batting at number 6 in ODIs.

#3 Fastest player to reach number 1 position in ICC ODI ranking

Dhoni became world number 1 after 42 matches

After failing in his debut match against Bangladesh, Dhoni played some stunning innings in the series against Pakistan and became an instant success. Dhoni did not look back as he continued playing match-winning innings for the team.

He soon became an integral part of the Indian ODI side and subsequently started to rise up in the rankings too. Dhoni reached the number one position in the ICC batsmen ranking after playing just 42 matches, becoming the fastest player to achieve the feat.

#2 Most number of centuries batting at number 7

Dhoni scored a century batting at number 7 playing for Asia XI

Dhoni rose to prominence as a flamboyant number three batsman. The Ranchi batsman played some sensational innings batting in the top order. But later on, he decided to give stability to the lower order and batted mostly at sixth and seventh in the batting order.

While it is extremely difficult for any batsman to score runs batting at a low position of number seven, Dhoni has been able to score two centuries, which is a world record. Dhoni has mastered the art of playing with the tail-enders and stitched some useful partnerships with them.

No other batsman in the world has scored two centuries batting at number seven.

#1 Only player to finish ODI matches with a six on 9 occasions

Dhoni winning the World Cup 2011 with a six

MS Dhoni is known for his towering sixes. Spectators and fans love seeing Dhoni bludgeon the ball out of the park. And he doesn't disappoint them. Dhoni has hit 217 sixes in ODIs so far, which is the most by any Indian player. He is also fourth in the list of highest number of sixes in the world, only behind Shahid Afridi, Chris Gayle and Sanath Jayasuriya.

However, Dhoni has been able to achieve a special feat which no other batsmen in the world could. Dhoni is the only player to finish a match with a six on 9 occasions. The most cherished one being the winning six in the 2011 World Cup final against Sri Lanka.