Dhoni earns a rare distinction

ADELAIDE: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni Sunday became the first Indian to effect four or more dismissals in an innings twice against Australia.

Dhoni affected four dismissals (three catches and one stumping) at Adelaide Oval, which was his second after his five dismissals (four catches and one stumping) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground Feb 10.

Kiran More, Nayan Mongia and Chandrakant Pandit are the other Indian wicketkeepers to have effected four dismissals in an innings against Australia once each.

Dhoni has effected 11 dismissals (nine catches and two stumpings) in the series so far - his career-best performance, bettering his previous best tally of 10 (8 catches and two stumpings) in seven matches in the NatWest series in England in 2007.

Dhoni, with 22 dismissals (16 catches and six stumpings) is now the leading Indian wicketkeeper for India against Australia, obliterating Nayan Mongia's tally of 18 (11 catches and 7 stumpings) in 15 matches.

Dhoni became the second Indian batsman to aggregate 200 runs in the competition - 210 at an average of 70.00 in five innings. Gautam Gambhir is the leading run-getter in the competition - 231 runs at an average of 57.75. For the first time in a competition/series, he has recorded 200-plus.