"I am not too sure" - When an Indian legend questioned MS Dhoni's legacy as a T20 batter

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is renowned as one of the greatest batters and captains in white-ball cricket. He ended his one-day career with over 10,000 runs in 350 matches. Under him, India won the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy, making him the only international captain to win all three ICC white-ball titles.

If we talk about franchise cricket, Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to five title wins in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Only Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians) has captained an IPL franchise to as many wins in the T20 league.

Back in April 2017 though, former India captain Sourav Ganguly questioned the legacy of Dhoni as a T20 batter. While describing the Ranchi cricketer as an ODI legend, he opined that the keeper-batter had not done enough with the bat in T20Is to be termed a very good batter in the format. Ganguly told India Today:

“I am not too sure if MS Dhoni is a good T20 player. He is a champion ODI player but when it comes to Twenty20 cricket, in 10 years, he has got one fifty and that’s not the best record."

While Dhoni played 350 one-dayers, he ended his career with 98 T20Is in which he scored 1,617 runs at an average of 37.60 and a strike rate of 126.13, with two half-centuries. The big-hitting right-hander mostly batted at the No. 5 and No. 6 position in his T20I career. His best of 56 came off 36 balls against England in Bengaluru. He also scored 52* off 28 against South Africa in Centurion.

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MS Dhoni's stats in the IPL

While Dhoni did not have a very good T20 record with the bat in international cricket, he has done much better for his franchise Chennai Super Kings. In 258 matches for CSK (including CLT20), he has scored 5,118 runs at an average of 39.06 and a strike rate of 139.45, with 23 half-centuries.

Overall, he has played 264 matches in the IPL, scoring 5,243 runs at an average of 39.13 and a strike rate of 137.54, with 24 fifties. The former India captain represented Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) in 2016 and 2017 when Chennai Super Kings were banned from the IPL.