MS Dhoni delivered one of the most exceptional performances of his ODI career, possibly his best, on October 31, 2005. At that time, Dhoni, with less than a year of experience in the Indian men's team, played a brilliant innings, scoring 183 runs in just 145 balls, featuring 15 fours and 10 sixes, in a match against Sri Lanka at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Dhoni's outstanding innings enabled India to successfully chase down a target of 299 with 23 balls to spare, giving India a 3-0 lead in the seven-match series. He came to bat at No.3 after the dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar and started his innings cautiously before accelerating. The remarkable performance by Dhoni established a new record for the highest individual score by a wicket-keeper batter in ODIs. He surpassed the previous record held by Adam Gilchrist, who had scored 172 runs off 126 balls with 13 fours and 3 sixes in January 2004 against Zimbabwe at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.
Notably, Dhoni's record remains intact even after 18 years. South Africa's Quinton de Kock has come close to breaking the record on two occasions, scoring 174 runs against Bangladesh in Mumbai during the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 and 178 runs against Australia in Centurion back in 2016, but fell short both times. De Kock also scored an unbeaten 168 against Bangladesh in Kimberley in October 2017.
MS Dhoni's 183-run innings also established a record for the highest individual score in a successful run chase. However, this record was later surpassed by Shane Watson, who scored an unbeaten 185 off 96 balls against Bangladesh during the 2011 World Cup match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
As of now, Dhoni occupies the second spot on the list of most runs by a wicketkeeper-batter in international cricket, having scored 17,266 runs in 538 matches at an average of 44.96, including 16 centuries and 108 fifties. Kumar Sangakkara leads the list with 17,840 runs.