Kapil, Tendulkar or Dhoni: Who is India's greatest ODI cricketer?

Another thriller, another win for India. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the man in the middle once again as India kept their nerve while their opponent’s lost theirs.

India have lost only once when Dhoni remained not out in an ODI chase. India won 33 times, while one match ended in a tie. India’s only failed chase with Dhoni unbeaten at crease came against Pakistan (Kolkata, 2013), while tie came vs Sri Lanka (Adelaide, 2012).

That is a stunning record and it makes one wonder where Dhoni ranks among India’s finest ODI cricketers; where does he rank in comparison to Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev and what is his standing when it comes to considering this list.

Veteran cricket writer Ayaz Memon spoke about the strengths and weaknesses of each of the cricketers in the latest edition of SportsTalk.

“There are two thought that come to mind when you talk about Dhoni — extraordinary self-belief and the fact that he’s such a fantastic reader of the game. He didn’t take a few singles and doubles in the previous overs because he believed in himself to get 15 runs at the death. What is fundamental to this is that he never gives up. He fights and it’s easy to see that he rightly calculates his strengths. Everything just adds up — the change of bats, the swings, everything. It’s uncanny.”

After discussing Dhoni at length, Ayaz went on to explain why Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev, according to him, are two of the best ODI players produced by India: “With Sachin, we may not have become world champions as soon as he came (before 2011), but the success rate of winning ODIs went up phenomenally. His great quality was that as an opener, he subjugated the opposition — he beat them into submission. With Kapil, he was a bowler but also a flamboyant batsman. Few could stop him when he got going.”

Ayaz Memon and Ashish Magotra also discuss the DRS HotSpot controversy that cost Jonathan Trott’s wicket in the ongoing Ashes. Watch the video above to listen to the full conversation.