Dhoni

[Django]

No sooner had he scored a couple of big hundred on batting pitches, the Indian media started comparing him with Gilchrist. The series against England has shown that he has a long way to go to be compared to Gilchrist yet.

Australia dropped Martyn for a few years after he played a reckless stroke against SA in 1993-94. I wonder whether the Indian selectors will take similar action?

[Karthik]

It might be too far to call him Gilchrist but he looks that he will be as good or better in a few years.He is quick behind the stumps and averages about 50 in One Day Internationals with a strike rate over 105.

[Django]

I am not saying that he is not good. He has a long way to go before he can be compared with an established player.

His average of 50 is playing against whom? Has he played against Australia yet? That will be the real test.

Secondly when he scores the same amount of runs in Australia and England then he can be compared with an established player. Until now he has played only in India and Pakistan and in ZImbabwe last year. He has failed the test playing against the second best at the moment. He also failed to perform against Shane Bond last year.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Django

No sooner had he scored a couple of big hundred on batting pitches, the Indian media started comparing him with Gilchrist.

There's one HUGE difference: Gilchrist can 'keep. Dhoni has far, far greater worries than his batting: his first job is with the gloves on... and on that front he makes Geraint Jones look like a wicket-keeping god.

Take the gloves of Dhoni and then consider the equasion: Dhoni vs. Laxman or Kaif. There's no contest: Laxman and Kaif are in a different class. By contrast.... Gilchrist (at his peak) would have walked into most Test sides as a specialist bat.... AND (at least either side of Read's spells) managed to be the best gloveman in world cricket!

[Mongoose]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Gilchrist (at his peak) would have walked into most Test sides as a specialist bat

Correction: Gilchrist would have walked into any test side as a batsman alone. For a while he was world no.1, and he has consistently been one of the top 3-4 batsmen in an Australian side that many consider as possibly the greatest team ever.

On the subject of whether India would drop Dhoni, the answer is no. He was stupid, but he's gaining experience. They will put it down as a lesson for a young player with huge potential.

[rineet]

Dhoni is not as bad as people have said in this thread. It's just one or two bad games he's had, and people place him lower than Jones! Jones has had only one good game at mumbai, whereas he's consistently shown how vulnerable he is with the wicketkeeping gloves. Dhoni, in the past, has shown good catching ability as a keeper. Keeping to Anil Kumble and harbhajan is always tough. And one bad shot doesnt mean that he should be dropped. Every batsman would have played that awful stroke atleast once in his career. On the contrary, Dhoni has played many responsible knocks, which the Dhoni followers will remember. So, let's wait for the ODI series to get over and then judge his ability.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by rineet

And one bad shot doesnt mean that he should be dropped. Every batsman would have played that awful stroke atleast once in his career. .

I think the problem is not one bad shot, but the fact that he was repeating the shot after having a life. Players Will make mistakes, but you should learn from them.

Dhoni got a big let off and a wake up call, he verbally admonished himself, and then three balls later he tried to do the same, and this time Panesar was able to take the catch.

When I was at school, we used to do high catching practice, if you dropped one you continued to get a high ball until you caught one, Dhoni seemed to be doing the same for Panesar!!

[Andy Mellon]

Originally Posted by rineet

Dhoni is not as bad as people have said in this thread.

I'm going to buck the trend of most England fans and agree with Rineet. I think Dhoni is a massive prospect for Indian cricket - sure he's probably about as good as Jones with the gloves (certainly no worse) and he has massive potential with the bat. Sure, he made some pretty bad mistakes in the last test - both with the gloves and with the bat - but he's very inexperienced in terms of cricket. Whilst people like Jones or Read learnt from their mistakes in County Cricket so their mistakes in international cricket aren't so glaringly bad (the Cairns ball to Read aside), Dhoni is effectively having to make his mistakes at the top level.

I am pretty confident, however, that he'll be the number one in the world in 5 years time if India persevere with him.

[Vrock]

I'll continue the trend-bucking. I think Dhoni has some real talent and India should definitely stick with him. He has performed really well in ODI's as of yet and he could be a force to be reckoned with if the selectors stick with him.

I think in terms of aggression, there is a defnite link between him and Gilchrist and possibly Dhoni could get to that level with both bat and gloves one day.

However you could also make the point that with such a feard batting attack (ignorant of form in this point) what is the need for a wicket keeper who can bat really well? Why not have a great keeper that can hold a bat just about when you still have Pathan to come in.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

I think Dhoni is [...] probably about as good as Jones with the gloves (certainly no worse) and he has massive potential with the bat

I'm not one to put Jones' keeping on a pedestal.. but that's cruel: Jones is bordering on passable as a Test 'keeper... approaching the sort of level that Stewart was at a year or so after he took the role full time.... and whilst anyone makes mistakes... the striking thing about Dhoni's missed stumpings and cockups in this last Mumbai Test is that they didn't even come as a surprise.

Batting wise... Dhoni clearly has the hand-eye co-ordination... but does he really have the technique to cope when he's scratching around, out of form and needing to grind his way into an innings... and does he really have the touch and soft hands to perform when the bowling, pitch and match situation are such that opening one's shoulders is not an option?

Of course... batsmen do, through sustained hard work, overcome limitations... and Dhoni is young enough be moulded into a player who knows how to bat within his own limitations and so on.... but let's not pretend he's got the self-evident promise of (for instance) Rudolph, Bell, Butt, Clarke and the like!