PALLEKELE: Thursday was a special day for Indian cricket as Mahendra Singh Dhoni stepped out at the R Premadasa Stadium ground to play his 300th ODI match. The team decided to celebrate the occasion with a small felicitation programme before the start of the fourth ODI, and all team members gathered to honour the great cricketer.

Skipper Virat Kohli handed over a platinum-plated bat to Dhoni and said in his short speech, “You (Dhoni) will always remain our captain.” The Indian cricketers broke into a unanimous round of applause after Kohli said: “90 per cent of us started our careers under you. It’s an honour to present you this memento.”

Virat Kohli honours milestone man MSD. (Pic Courtsey: BCCI Twitter)

Dhoni became the sixth Indian, after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Md Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh, to reach the landmark.

The former skipper decided to make the record books on his special day as he remained unbeaten for the 73rd time, the most by any batsman in ODIs. He missed out on a half-century by just one run, but like a true leader he went up to pat Manish Pandey when the youngster, making a comeback to the team, reached his 50 on the last ball of the innings.

Dhoni played a major role in helping India gain the upper hand early in the Lankan innings. He asked Kohli to take TV reviews after catching Niroshan Dickwella and debutant Dilshan Munaweera.