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[flute202020]

It seems like Dhoni is missing quite a few chances in keeping the wickets and we are loosing sight of the fact because of his batting. GC's talk too seems to be focussed on his batting, talking about how he can Michael Bevan of India etc.

If you observe closely, he missed a chance in almost all the games in this ODI series. He missed a catch in the 6th ODI too. How serious is the problem? should we think about having another keeper in the squad?

[worma]

I haven't found his keeping bad enough to be worthy of concern. Sure he's not the best....and has bad days like any other keeper in business...but nothing alarming. He has good days with the glove too.

Ofcourse there is room for improvement, but not an 'issue' IMO.

[flute202020]

I haven't found his keeping bad enough to be worthy of concern. Sure he's not the best....and has bad days like any other keeper in business...but nothing alarming. He has good days with the glove too.

Ofcourse there is room for improvement, but not an 'issue' IMO.

I don't have stats with me, but my general impression , going by what I remember of all the match reports in this End series both ODIs & Tests , is that Dhoni seemed to miss something in almost every match. Is that not accurate? or do you think missing in every match is normal?

[Sahir]

I haven't found his keeping bad enough to be worthy of concern. Sure he's not the best....and has bad days like any other keeper in business...but nothing alarming. He has good days with the glove too.

Ofcourse there is room for improvement, but not an 'issue' IMO.

Second this opinion.  Not perfect, but honestly, the most consistent glovework I've seen in recent times from an Indian keeper as well.

[worma]

I haven't found his keeping bad enough to be worthy of concern. Sure he's not the best....and has bad days like any other keeper in business...but nothing alarming. He has good days with the glove too.

Ofcourse there is room for improvement, but not an 'issue' IMO.

I don't have stats with me, but my general impression , going by what I remember of all the match reports in this End series both ODIs & Tests , is that Dhoni seemed to miss something in almost every match. Is that not accurate? or do you think missing in every match is normal?

Flute, I also speak from memory. I've seen quite a lot of matches this season (hardly any for entire duration...but anyway..) and a lot of his keeping also. I don't find it bad. Seen him take good ones, and miss a few. But not alarming or anything. And as Sahir said, most consistent of recent Indian keepers (judging by what I saw, not any stats to backup..but I'm ready to be surprised).

Most keepers have misses, as does Dhoni. He has not missed out an actual dismissal every match. Some days maybe more than one, on others taken good ones.

Probably I can't say much more without repeating myself. To me he looks ok as a keeper. Can improve, but ok.

[flute202020]

I haven't found his keeping bad enough to be worthy of concern. Sure he's not the best....and has bad days like any other keeper in business...but nothing alarming. He has good days with the glove too.

Ofcourse there is room for improvement, but not an 'issue' IMO.

I don't have stats with me, but my general impression , going by what I remember of all the match reports in this End series both ODIs & Tests , is that Dhoni seemed to miss something in almost every match. Is that not accurate? or do you think missing in every match is normal?

Flute, I also speak from memory. I've seen quite a lot of matches this season (hardly any for entire duration...but anyway..) and a lot of his keeping also. I don't find it bad. Seen him take good ones, and miss a few. But not alarming or anything. And as Sahir said, most consistent of recent Indian keepers (judging by what I saw, not any stats to backup..but I'm ready to be surprised).

Most keepers have misses, as does Dhoni. He has not missed out an actual dismissal every match. Some days maybe more than one, on others taken good ones.

Probably I can't say much more without repeating myself. To me he looks ok as a keeper. Can improve, but ok.

yep, without stats to back up and I am too lazy to go back and look thru all the match reports, we just have to go by impressions. Can anyone else throw more light on this?

[tombaan]

i recently watched a match between aussies and india an old video and could see patel playing khabadi with the ball.....dhoni is far better than that

[worma]

i recently watched a match between aussies and india an old video and could see patel playing khabadi with the ball.....dhoni is far better than that

True, but thats not saying much, is it ;-)

[dextrous]

For someone who averages 50+ in one dayers, it is surely acceptable to give up a few catches 

[senthilpeter]

Flute, I've watched a heck of a lot of games, possibly all, lately and here's my impression:

Dhoni is a raw keeper looking to improve. He'll probably never become a 'smooth', natural looking keeper. But he's thus far ramped up really fast and is as effective as any keeper we've had in the recent past. He's had his misses certainly (esp stumpings off spinners) but nothing of alarm as yet. Keep in mind also that his athleticism actually allows him to take some catches (esp of faster bowlers) that other keepers wouldn't be able to. I've seen him dive forward, yeah fully frwd, to take catches of seamers... now thats not something you see any keeper do much. there are other things Dhoni does (thanks to his awesome brains and his physical prowess) that you wouldn't get from others....much of this is stuff you can't teach.

So he's a mixed package right now, but one with a continual addition of plusses. I'd not trade him for anyone till its obvious we have another great batsmen but a better keeper or Dhoni's keeping stagnates/declines.

In all, I think the issue is that you are expecting a certain degree of perfection from Dhoni. For that you have to wait.. he's learning on the job. The great thing is that he seems so earnest to do that, inspite of being a guy that can possibly bat in ODIs for us now w/o being a keeper. His attitude to learning and his work ethic while at it are priceless.

[flute202020]

Flute, I've watched a heck of a lot of games, possibly all, lately and here's my impression:

Dhoni is a raw keeper looking to improve. He'll probably never become a 'smooth', natural looking keeper. But he's thus far ramped up really fast and is as effective as any keeper we've had in the recent past. He's had his misses certainly (esp stumpings off spinners) but nothing of alarm as yet. Keep in mind also that his athleticism actually allows him to take some catches (esp of faster bowlers) that other keepers wouldn't be able to. I've seen him dive forward, yeah fully frwd, to take catches of seamers... now thats not something you see any keeper do much. there are other things Dhoni does (thanks to his awesome brains and his physical prowess) that you wouldn't get from others....much of this is stuff you can't teach.

So he's a mixed package right now, but one with a continual addition of plusses. I'd not trade him for anyone till its obvious we have another great batsmen but a better keeper or Dhoni's keeping stagnates/declines.

In all, I think the issue is that you are expecting a certain degree of perfection from Dhoni. For that you have to wait.. he's learning on the job. The great thing is that he seems so earnest to do that, inspite of being a guy that can possibly bat in ODIs for us now w/o being a keeper. His attitude to learning and his work ethic while at it are priceless.

thanks senthil for the comprehensive input. I was only concerned about he and team management ignoring his keeping since the focus seems to be so much on his big hitting ways. Agreed he is a great talent with good attitude.

[fineleg]

MSD has quite a few things to improve in his keeping - BUT, as long as he and team mgmt recognize that and keep working on his keeping-skills, then it should be fine.

His keeping currently is "alrite", not bad, on some days good.
It is not like Gilchrist or Sangakkara or Taibu or Ian Healy - those are some excellent keepers.
But, if he works towards improvement in keeping, that will be good.

Compared to the choices we "supposedly" have Parthiv and Dinesh Kartik, MSD's keeping is relatively better.

VERDICT: Keep him in both ODI and TEST and coach him to improve.

[senthilpeter]

Flute, I've watched a heck of a lot of games, possibly all, lately and here's my impression:

Dhoni is a raw keeper looking to improve. He'll probably never become a 'smooth', natural looking keeper. But he's thus far ramped up really fast and is as effective as any keeper we've had in the recent past. He's had his misses certainly (esp stumpings off spinners) but nothing of alarm as yet. Keep in mind also that his athleticism actually allows him to take some catches (esp of faster bowlers) that other keepers wouldn't be able to. I've seen him dive forward, yeah fully frwd, to take catches of seamers... now thats not something you see any keeper do much. there are other things Dhoni does (thanks to his awesome brains and his physical prowess) that you wouldn't get from others....much of this is stuff you can't teach.

So he's a mixed package right now, but one with a continual addition of plusses. I'd not trade him for anyone till its obvious we have another great batsmen but a better keeper or Dhoni's keeping stagnates/declines.

In all, I think the issue is that you are expecting a certain degree of perfection from Dhoni. For that you have to wait.. he's learning on the job. The great thing is that he seems so earnest to do that, inspite of being a guy that can possibly bat in ODIs for us now w/o being a keeper. His attitude to learning and his work ethic while at it are priceless.

thanks senthil for the comprehensive input. I was only concerned about he and team management ignoring his keeping since the focus seems to be so much on his big hitting ways. Agreed he is a great talent with good attitude.

Flute, its the media's focus! We need to aware of that.... they are the ones who raise him to the sky. I think Dhoni has a good head on his shoulders. No worries.