That is because he is a genuine batsman, and has even played Tests and ODI as such. He started off by being a part-time ODI keeper, and was given time off keeping duties in 2003 and 2004, to concentrate on his battingt. He has then replaced the ageing Kaluwitharana as the full-time keeper, and is doing very well at it - however, it is as a batsman that he truly excels in his team.

I agree he is number two after Gilly; he may not have the flair of Gilly, but is technically more competent than him.

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A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes
Mark Twain

Rod Marsh thinks Akmal is the best keeper at the moment playing international cricket.

1. Akmal

2. Boucher

3. Ghilie

4. Sangakara

Is that keepers or keeper/batsmen or even batsmen/keepers because if it's based upon keeping prodominantly he is certainly behind Gilchrist, Akmal, Sangakarra.

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Watch this for a perfect about.
James May

If u mean keeper/batsman then it would be Sangakkara. Gichrist is out of form these days.

Out of form does not mean out of class...a few bad matches doesnt make Gilchrist worse than Sangakara.

I don't think Gilchrist is still the best keeper/batsman in Australia, let alone the world. Unfortunately his eye both for batting and the glovework, seemd to have dropped off in early 2005. His poor keeping and even poorer batting since then reflects someone who previously relied on a supreme hand-eye-body coordination, but on losing this, is now back in the pack of mortals.

keeper-

1. Ghilchrist
2. Boucher
3. Haddin
4. Akmal
5. McCullum

batsmen-

1. Ghilchrist
2. Sangakkara
3. Dhoni
4. Akmal
5. Haddin

My vote goes to M.S.Dhoni because he has performed considerably well on every given opportunity. Even his glovework has tremondously improved than what it was when he first burst into the international scene. I vote for Dhoni based on present form simply because of the century he scored at Faisalabad. Its true that the 2 tests between Ind and Pak have been played in the flattest of wickets and centuries were scored at will in these 2 matches. But there is a difference between scoring a century and scoring a century under pressure. Dhoni's was the latter as it was a tremondous counter-attack after weathering the onslaught meted out by the Pakistani pacemen. Its still earlydays in Dhoni's career but this guy shows a lot of promise and I'm sure he will live up to the expectations.

Rod Marsh has lost it

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