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Is Dhoni greatest OdI cricketer off all-time

Anil

Hall of Fame Member
Cricinfo - Players and Officials - MS Dhoni

His Batting stats alone make him almost a lock for an all time odi team and then you add his solid to good keeping and fantastic captaincy and too my mind you get the most complete odi player.

Sachin & Wasim would be close cases but Dhoni covers all bases more efficiently
not even close....tendulkar, richards, bevan and quite a few others have had more distinguished odi careers, wait till his career ends before making such judgements...
 

Eclipse

International Debutant
An average of 49 is certianly impressive

But he's been not out in 26% of the innings he's played.

I'm with sammy2 --> only 4 centuries?

Gilchrist had 16 centuries (that's 4 times as many in only twice as many games) and has twice as many fifties (which is on par since he's played twice as many games). Gilly just didn't get as many "not outs" as he was almost always opening. And yet his SR is still better than Dhoni.

One might say 'but Dhoni doesn't get the chance to get hundreds since he's down the order' - well, sure - but if you look at his FC or test record, then you'd note that he's not a century maker in the same vein as other 'proper batsmen' around the world.

I'm not arguing for Gilchrist as the best over ODI player - but he's close than Dhoni, who isn't anywhere near it I'm afraid....

Agreed

Dhoni is noway near the player Gilchrist was, average is not everything.

And no I don't really rate his captaincy as 'great' its good but nothing special.
 
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masterblaster

International Captain
Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Akram, Shaun Pollock, Viv Richards, Michael Bevan, Mark Waugh there are so many candidates for the greatest ODI player of all time. Dhoni doesn't come close yet. He may in a few years if he keeps this sort of consistency. He's certainly one of the best amongst the current generation of players though.
 

bagapath

International Captain
i dont think so.

in my book the greatest ODI cricketers would be ranked somewhat in this order.

viv richards
sachin tendulkar
wasim akram
shaun pollock
michael bevan
joel garner
ricky ponting
sanath jayasuriya
adam gilchrist
allan donald
brian lara
saeed anwar
dean jones
mutthian muralitharan
saqlain mushtaq
andrew symonds
mark waugh

the order could be fine tuned better. but dhoni is not better than any of them at this point in time.
 

jeevan

International 12th Man
Greatest ever ODI player in present Indian team: Sachin
Greatest ever ODI captain for India: Kapil Dev

Greatest ever ODI keeper-batsman for India: Could've even been Engineer but for being born 10 years too soon atleast. So Dhoni.
 

Dick Rockett

International Vice-Captain
If you look at a breakdown of his stats vs each country it becomes apparent that MS Dhoni has spent most of his career bullying the same two countries (Sri Lanka and Pakistan). Against other countries he's still certainly very good, but not the champion that an average of 49-odd would suggest, especially considering the number of not outs he's had.

Interesting to note that away from subcontinent pitches, the average drops considerably (although is still pretty flash), and no hundreds.
 
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Redbacks

International Captain
Not outs for a player of his attacking style also shows a good ability to play alot of risk shots without making mistakes which deserves credit.

I would add Hayden and McGrath to bagapath's list of players.

Hayden could be a bit iffy but his WC average of ~52 and a finals average of 50 are worthy of attention.
 

andyc

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
i dont think so.

in my book the greatest ODI cricketers would be ranked somewhat in this order.

viv richards
sachin tendulkar
wasim akram
shaun pollock
michael bevan
joel garner
ricky ponting
sanath jayasuriya
adam gilchrist
allan donald
brian lara
saeed anwar
dean jones
mutthian muralitharan
saqlain mushtaq
andrew symonds
mark waugh

the order could be fine tuned better. but dhoni is not better than any of them at this point in time.
You've got Donald but no McGrath?
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Probably the best finisher in ODIs since Michael Bevan.

His average in matches where India have won chasing is ridiculous. Sure it's bolstered by a lot of not outs, but that's exactly what you need from a number 5 or 6.
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
In my opnion following Indian Cricketers are better than Dhoni in ODIs:-

Kapil Dev,
Sachin Tendulkar,
Navjot Sidhu.
Md. Azharuddin,
Anil Kumble,
Modinder Amarnath,
Rahul Dravid,
Saurav Ganguly,
Yuvraj Singh
Sunil Gavaskar

Top 10 Pakistani Cricketers better than Dhoni :-

Imran Khan
Wasim Akram,
Waqar Younis,
Saqlain Mushtaq
Javed Miandad
Inzamam Ul Haq
Salim Malik
Md. Yusuf
Shoaib Akhtar
Saeed Anwar,

Lankan Cricketers better than Dhoni :-

Aravinda Desilva
Muralitharan
Sanath Jaisuriya

From WI :-

Sir IVA Richards,
Gordon Greenidge
Desmond Haynes
Curtly Ambrose,
Malcolm Marshall
Joel Garner
Andy Roberts
Michael Holding
Brian Lara
Clive Lloyd
Carl Hooper

From Australia :-

Mark Waugh
Ricky Ponting,
Dean Jones,
Shane Warne
Mathew Hayden
Adam Gilchrist
Glen Mcgrath
Mike Hussey
Andrew Symonds
Michael Bevan

...

I am sorry but I think I have made my point..
 

bagapath

International Captain
You've got Donald but no McGrath?
mcgrath should be there in that list i agree, and maybe ambrose, lamb and de silva too. all of them are better than dhoni in the all time rankings in ODI cricket.

but andyc, it is perfectly legitimate to think donald is better than mcgrath in ODIs.


GD McGrath 250 12970 8391 381 7/15 22.02 3.88 34.0 9 7

AA Donald 164 8561 5926 272 6/23 21.78 4.15 31.4 11 2

white lightning does have a superior strike rate and average as well as more four and five wicket hauls in almost 90 matches less than pigeon. mcgrath has a better ER but in every other aspect donald leads him.
 

DaRick

State Vice-Captain
mcgrath should be there in that list i agree, and maybe ambrose, lamb and de silva too. all of them are better than dhoni in the all time rankings in ODI cricket.

but andyc, it is perfectly legitimate to think donald is better than mcgrath in ODIs.


GD McGrath 250 12970 8391 381 7/15 22.02 3.88 34.0 9 7

AA Donald 164 8561 5926 272 6/23 21.78 4.15 31.4 11 2

white lightning does have a superior strike rate and average as well as more four and five wicket hauls in almost 90 matches less than pigeon. mcgrath has a better ER but in every other aspect donald leads him.
Although, that being said, SR is inversely related to econ. rate. Where one falls, the other rises. As ODI bowlers, they're tough to separate. Against ODI-class teams (incl. Zimbabwe in Donald's case):

GD McGrath:1993-2007 221 219 1927.1 240 7670 337 5/14 22.75 3.97 34.3 9 6
AA Donald: 1991-2003 156 154 1358.5 96 5696 256 5/29 22.25 4.19 31.8 11 1

With records this close, I'd be inclined to pick the bowler with the better economy rate, since the goal of ODI's is to constrict runs. So, I'd have McGrath slightly ahead.
 
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Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
Tremendously underrated through the perseverence of posters to ignore the modern day and look back on what was apparently a far higher standard of cricket. Dhoni is a superb ODI batsman and at least in the top ten ODI batsmen of all time. He rarely fails to deliver and 29 of his 32 not outs have come in victories, an astonishing statistic when you consider that 2 of the others have been in "no results".
 

Xuhaib

International Coach
Tremendously underrated through the perseverence of posters to ignore the modern day and look back on what was apparently a far higher standard of cricket. Dhoni is a superb ODI batsman and at least in the top ten ODI batsmen of all time. He rarely fails to deliver and 29 of his 32 not outs have come in victories, an astonishing statistic when you consider that 2 of the others have been in "no results".
this.

His lack of batting style I feel hurts his reputation.
 

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