Mahendra Singh Dhoni Closes in on a 1000 Test Runs vs England

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's batting form will be crucial for India in the Manchester Test against England starting Thursday. If India opt for a fifth specialist bowler, then Dhoni will bat in the crucial No. 6 spot. A number of batting records beckon the Indian captain, whose batting may not be exactly copy-book as per Test standards. Yet, Dhoni has 977 runs against England. He needs 23 more runs for his 1000 runs. If he gets them, he would then become the 11th batsman to score 1000-plus runs against England.

Sachin Tendulkar has scored 2535 runs against England in 32 matches. He has scored seven centuries and 13 fifties with a highest score of 193. Sunil Gavaskar is second best with 2483 (four centuries) while Rahul Dravid (1950), Gundappa Viswanath (1880) and Dilip Vengsarkar (1589) are No. 3, 4 and 5. Ravi Shastri (1026) is the 10th best with 1026.

Dhoni has an aggregate of 598 runs against England in England. He needs two more runs for his 600 runs. If he gets them, he would become the ninth Indian batsman to amass 600-plus runs against England in England. Others are -- Tendulkar (1575), Dravid (1376), Gavaskar (1152), Vengsarkar (960), Sourav Ganguly (915), Viswanath (858), Kapil Dev (638) and Mohammed Azharuddin (625).

Dhoni has an aggregate of 977 runs against England as a wicket-keeper batsman. He needs 23 more runs for his 1000 runs. If he gets them, he would then become the second Indian wicket-keeper batsman to total 1000-plus runs against England after Farokh Engineer, who has an aggregate of 1113 runs against England.