MS Dhoni showed up as a wicketkeeper who could really smack the ball around. His career took off fast, and just about three years after he started playing internationally, he became India’s captain. Right away, the team won the first-ever ICC World T20. He started as a top-order hitter who loved to tear into bowlers, but he settled into the middle order and became one of the best finishers ever. India grabbed two more ICC titles too, winning the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy.
Plus, he was amazing behind the stumps, which always kept batters on their toes. One little mistake, and the bails were off in a flash, sending them back to the locker room.
It’s no shock he ended up with 634 catches and 195 stumpings, along with scoring over 17,000 runs in all formats.
He changed the game forever and, along with legends like Adam Gilchrist and Brendon McCullum, redefined what a wicketkeeper could do.
Former West Indies player Denesh Ramdin thinks Dhoni is an amazing player who changed what it means to be a modern wicketkeeper.
Back in the day, wicketkeepers were mostly just ‘keepers, but now cricket has changed, Ramdin told PTI. The keeper-batsman role has gotten bigger, starting with guys like Adam Gilchrist, who opened the batting and killed it. Others such as Quinton de Kock, Brendon McCullum, and of course, the amazing Mahendra Singh Dhoni, have been awesome in shaping how a modern wicketkeeper plays.
Talking about current players, Ramdin, who played a lot of matches for West Indies, says that India’s Rishabh Pant and Australia’s Jogh Inglis are great wicketkeeper-batters.
For sure, Rishabh Pant is one—he bats and scores in his own way. There’s a young Aussie guy, Josh Inglis—he was good in the Champions Trophy. There are so many young keepers coming up, said Ramdin, who is a wicketkeeper himself.
