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The silent achiever

Amidst all the hoopla around Tendulkar's twenty years, Dravid's return to form, Sehwag's monstrous scores and India's ascent to #1 in the rankings, one man has been quietly forgotten. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has now become (statistically) the best Indian wicket-keeper batsman of all time in Test matches with more hundreds (3) than anyone else and with a better dismissals/innings rate than all Indian keepers with 50+ dismissals. He also has the highest ODI batting average amongst all Indian batsmen (who've played 20+ games), at a strike rate of just under 90. And of course he led India to its only World Cup after the seminal '83 win though it must be said that he hasn't done justice to himself in T20Is yet.

Add to that the fact that he's now captained India to Test series wins against Aus, Eng, and SL plus a drawn series against SA at home and their first overseas win in NZ in 30 years and you have a modern Indian great in the making. Funnily enough he seems to be taken for granted these days and foreign teams and fans now seem to appreciate him more than his own countrymen appear to do. Such is the lot of the Indian cricketing superstar :-)

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