Dhoni

[greg]

Be interesting to see if he is as good away from the belting batting pitches of the subcontinent when he gets to tour to a different part of the world.I hope he is as he sounds a great prospect and an exciting player to watch.

[DomainK]

Yup Greg, even I want to see how good he is on pitches outside the subcontinent.

[rineet]

I think he will succeed in all types of pitches because even in Zimbabwe, he was a success during the Videocon Triseries where he made a couple of impressive fifties.

[greg]

Originally Posted by rineet

I think he will succeed in all types of pitches because even in Zimbabwe, he was a success during the Videocon Triseries where he made a couple of impressive fifties.

You can't count that.Even i could score runs against them.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by greg

he sounds a great prospect and an exciting player to watch.

No. He sounds like a thug. I've no evidence that he can build a classy innings through delicate, low risk shots of real quality: it's early days but I fear he's likely to remain a one dimensional slogger who will never, in his entire career, play a shot worthy of endless replays.

He might go on to be successful... but "great prospect"? Save that for the likes of Bell, Rudolph, Butt and Clarke.

[DomainK]

Quite interesting opinion from Rachael there. I think Dhoni is much better than that. He is not a technically correct batsman but thats alright if he can score runs like this. What remains to be seen is how he plays in pitches outside the subcontinent.

[greg]

Rachael hates anyone who scores at more than 1 an over so i am not surprised by that opinion.To call someone a thug when you have never seen them is quite amazing.

[rineet]

Originally Posted by Rachael

No. He sounds like a thug. I've no evidence that he can build a classy innings through delicate, low risk shots of real quality: it's early days but I fear he's likely to remain a one dimensional slogger who will never, in his entire career, play a shot worthy of endless replays.

I beg to differ from this opinion. He may look like a thug, but in today's cricket, what matters more is not how you score runs but whether you are able to score runs. A hundred, which includes risky, unorthodox shots influences (is more helpful in) a game much more than a 30 or a 40 made out of delicate,low risk shots of real quality. If Dhoni is able to make big scores with those high risk shots, then I think they can't be called as high-risk shots, because such high-risk shots won't pay off every time.

Regarding his shots, some of them are so-unorthodox that they can be seen over and over again in TV replays.

And, please stop branding him a slogger. He isn't one. Call it "clean-hitting".

[Doink]

Despite what all has been said about his batting (and looks!), he is getting the runs and has done pretty well behind the stumps. I've seen him play for India-A against Pakistan-A in Kenya. And you guys must be aware that Nairobi pitches are atleast a little more helpful to the bowlers then they are in the subcontinent. Dhoni made 2 centuries against a pretty decent Pakistani attack. But then he looked ordinary against the Proteas. I wont say he can tear apart any bowling attack but he is a quick learner. Harmi & Co. will give him a tough time but he will return the favour on a few occasions too!

[Colourful Chaddi]

One of the greatest batsmen of all time W G Grace and Donald Bradman both batted very differntly to the batsemn of today. They both were less flashy and went for power more than timing, they were not "text-book" batsmen like todays batsmen but they scored heck of alot of runs!!

The same could be said about Dhoni he isn't a "text-book" batsmen but he scores alot of runs. Racheal have you every seen Dhoni play? I don't think you have as your judgment to call him a "one dimensional slogger" is said in ignorance! That tag should go to KP, Afridi or Freddie not Dhoni. The way he played Murali in his innings of 180 (off only 150 odd balls!!!) was excellent! He played him with great contorl on a spinning track, any batsmen would have been proud of that.

Please don't compare him to the likes of Ian Bell. Dhoni is far better than Bell, just look at their averages, Bell may have a "text-book" technique but look what happned in the Ashes. Dhoni is more likely to save his team with the bat than Ian Bell at the moment and Dhoni has just started at International level.