Ganguly, Dhoni and Kohli and their common ODI highest score

Three captains, three eras and yet all three have a similarity.
Former captains Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni and current skipper Virat Kohli coincidentally have 183 as their highest scores in ODI cricket.
Ganguly powered his way to a jaw-dropping 183 against Sri Lanka in the 1999 World Cup match against the then defending champions Sri Lanka. Coming in to bat in a must-win match, Ganguly scored his runs off just 158 balls including a whopping 17 fours and seven huge sixes. India ended up with 373 runs in the first innings and went on to win the contest by 157 runs. The left-hander took on the likes of Muttiah Muralidharan and Chaminda Vaas with gusto and etched his name in history as this knock of his remains the highest by an Indian in a World Cup match.

Yet, it was the same opposition that was at the receiving end of another masterclass of an innings and this time, it was a young wicketkeeper-batsman in MS Dhoni, who muscled his way to 183 in an ODI in 2005. Sri Lanka, riding on a classy 138* from the bat of Kumar Sangakkara posted 298 runs in their first innings and their skipper Marvan Atapattu would have been a happy man with his team’s effort. But the script had a different ending to it.

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Promoted to bat at number 3 by the then skipper Rahul Dravid after the dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar for just two runs, Dhoni fireworks with the bat began as he bludgeoned his way to 183 of just 145 balls as India comfortably chased the score with six wickets remaining.

In 2012, a new and young Virat Kohli made his presence felt at the biggest stage-an India-Pakistan match. And he did it in style. Having put to chase a mammoth 330, Kohli shouldered the responsibility of the chase and came up with some attractive shots. He scored his runs in just 148 balls and his game-changing knock included a whopping 22 fours and an inside-out six as India eventually cruised to a win in just 47.3 overs.

Image credit- Sourav Ganguly-Cricketcountry, Mahendra Singh Dhoni-Sportzwiki and Virat Kohli-ESPN Cricinfo