Back in the past Indian Cricket team had wicket keeper eras from Syed Kirmani to Kiran More to Nayan Mongia to Saba Karim. They kept wickets well and did a decent job behind the stumps. Till the 80s and 90s not much was expected out of a wicket keeper in the batting role. Just like how a bowler is not expected to score runs the same way wicket keeping was considered as goal keeping in football. Nobody expects a goalkeeper to score for his team.
Early 2000s witnessed a crisis for the Indian Cricket team in the wicket keeping department and thus Rahul Dravid decided to take on the responsibility before there arrived the young Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik. Rahul Dravid did a decent job in keeping wickets but was a batsmen 1st. Parthiv and Dinesh were in for a competition but then they were not as good players as they are today. They were just able to bat and not score huge runs.
There was something lacking in Indian Cricket team’s playing 11 because if you would have seen other nations playing 11 they had hard hitting batsmen like Adam Gilchrist for Australia, Brendon McCullum for New Zealand, Mark Boucher for South Africa, Alec Stewart for England, Romesh Kaluwitharana for Sri Lanka who all were wicket keepers and were considered as recognized hard hitting batsmen. And not just random strikers who played down the order but they were clean strikers of the ball and they all mostly opened the innings for their team except Boucher who batted 5 down but he did win matches for South Africa.
Arch-Rival nation Pakistan had hard hitting wicket keeper batsmen like Saleem Yousuf in the 80s, Rashid Latif in late 80s and 90s and Moin Khan in 90s and everyone is aware of the big hitting abilities of Kamran Akmal who always use to have a go at the Indian bowlers.
India was lacking a hard hitting batsmen in the form of a wicket keeper.
Then in the late 2004 we saw a new boy with long hair and a big name and a heavy bat. He was Mahendra Singh Dhoni. In his first 3 ODIs against Bangladesh, he failed miserably with just 19 runs in 3 innings. But he had a good background of having big hitting skills with the bat. Sourav Ganguly being Sourav Ganguly as he always had given chance to new talents as he believed - ‘New players should be given stages and chances to showcase their talents and judging them just from a few initial failures was not justice for them’.
It was early 2005 India’s tour of Pakistan for 5 ODIs. Ganguly gave Dhoni a chance to bat up the order unlike the series against Bangladesh where Dhoni was sent in to bat just when there were about a couple of overs or just some balls left. Dhoni scored about 3 half centuries with a very good strike rate of 100+ and some match winning partnerships with Yuvraj Singh. This series got everyone notice Dhoni for his big hitting skills. He then scored a memorable 148 agianst Pakistan in 2006 in Vishakhapatnam ODI and the ever memorable 183 when he was sent to bat 1 down. Dhoni by 2006 had cemented his position in the team as a wicket keeper known for his big hitting which was 1st time in Indian Cricket history. Rahul Dravid then got some off time from gloves as he could then focus on his captaincy and batting. Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik both who were U-19 Captains soon became the 2nd and 3rd choice keepers and played for India only when Dhoni was injured or given rest. Dhoni had even failed to make it to the U-19 World Cup in 1998 and then by 2006 he had left Parthiv Patel and Dinesh karthik far behind.
Dhoni was not just a good hard hitting batsmen but a very innovative wicket keeper as well. His presence of mind, reflexes, smart stumpings and stylishly unbelievable runouts had become the talk of the town. Something which Parthiv and Dinesh could not match upto.
It was Tendulkar who had discovered the leader inside Dhoni which caused the Selection team to give him a Captain’s role in the T20 World cup in 2007 which was back then not even considered as a Cricket format and thus all the Senior players like Dravid, Ganguly, Tendulkar, Zaheer were rested.
An unimaginable result in the T20 World Cup - A title for India shook the nation with tears of joy and then Dhoni was handed the captaincy in all formats. Dhoni then played down the order most of the time 4 down and batted with the tale and had a strong control while batting with the tale as well. At times he promoted himself 3 down or 2 down depending on the match circumstances.
India started gaining more and more positive results under Dhoni’s captaincyin ODIs and Tests as well. A World Cup triumph in 2011 and a Champions Trophy in 2013 and Dhoni became India’s best ever Captain. Parthiv and Dinesh kept clapping in the dugouts for Dhoni and co.
Today, you will see every wicket keeper in India’s domestic circuit or in the IPL is a hard hitting batsmen. India today has humongous number of wicket keepers waiting on bench who are not just wiket keepers but they are inspired talents who grew watching Dhoni.
Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Ambati Rayudu, etc.are all hungry to score and look much more than just promising hard strikers of the ball. Even Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel have evolved with time and turned into quite innovative with their batting. There is Wriddhiman Saha and Naman Ojha who can score runs in less balls but they are out of form as of now.
Rishabh Pant being just 20 year old is considered as a ball-breaker rather than a ball-striker because of the way he hits the balls.
India has a good future in the wicket keeping department.
#Cricket #IPL #MSDhoni #RishabhPant #IshanKishan #AmbatiRayudu #SanjuSamson #WriddhimanSaha #NayanMongia #RahulDravid
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