Published: Jul 22, 2011, 10:58 AM (IST)
Edited: Mar 31, 2014, 11:10 AM (IST)
By H Natarajan
For half a century from the ’50s, India was blessed with high-quality wicket-keepers. In these five decades, ‘keepers like Naren Tamhane, Farokh Engineer, Budhi Kunderan, Syed Kirmani, Kiran More and Nayan Mongia offered huge security behind the stumps to the Indian bowlers.
The standard of ‘keepers in India fell at the turn of the current century. Even when Mongia was around, two wicket-keepers came and went pretty quickly – MSK Prasad (6) and Vijay Dhaiya (2). But since Mongia played the last of his 44 Tests in 2001, a long line of ‘keepers – Dinesh Karthik (23), Parthiv Patel (20), Samir Dighe (6), Ajay Ratra (6) and Deep Dasgupta (8) – have been tried by the national selectors. None have established in the Indian team till the arrival of Mahendra Singh Dhoni – with 58 Test appearances, India’s second-most capped ‘keeper in Tests after Kirmani.
Dhoni has been playing Test cricket for six years without anywhere being good enough to be rated a high-quality Test match ‘keeper. He is not even the best among the current lot of ‘keepers in India, and but for his captaincy record and the high value he brings in at No 7 in the batting order, he may not even find a place in the eleven. Clearly, it’s not his wicket-keeping that is gaining him preference.
The opening day of the first India-England Test at Lord’s exposed Dhoni’s shortcomings behind the stumps. To me, it was quite evident that he was standing far too back, as a result of which he was quite consistently taking the ball at his boots or on one bounce. Wicket-keepers may take an over or two, at the most, to judge the bounce of the wicket before positioning themselves right to take the ball at around waist level. But Dhoni simply refused to adjust.
The catching cordon next to the ‘keeper takes its position on the basis of where the ‘keeper stands. Consequently, if the ‘keeper is not standing in the right position, the entire cordon could also be in the wrong position. Evidence of that was the confusion between Dhoni and Rahul Dravid at first slip resulting in chances going abegging.
In English conditions, where the ball swings and seams a lot, the role of the ‘keeper becomes very critical. Batsmen have to be very watchful and minimize their risks by leaving more balls to the ‘keeper. As a result of which, the workload of the man behind increases manifold. But if a ‘keeper has to consistently take the ball at shoelace level, as Dhoni did on the opening day, the repetitive action of bending low is bound to considerably tax his physical resources – especially for a man like Dhoni who is built on the heavier side.
England is the home of some of the finest wicket-keepers; men whose purity behind the stumps made them legendary names – names like Godfrey Evans, Allan Knott and Bob Taylor. Evans, who was brilliant enough standing consistent up to Alec Bedser, is no more, but Knott and Taylor are still around. It would help Dhoni and Indian cricket immensely to spend some time with these distinguished men and talk about ‘keeping in general and his technique behind wickets in particular. Farokh Engineer, who was the consistent first choice wicket-keeper for World XIs of his time, has made England his home for decades and could also be sought by Dhoni.
Dropped catches can play on the mind of the players and can have a viral effect – in Dhoni’s case his batting and, more importantly, his captaincy. The entire team suffers when the captain comes under such pressure.
An Ishant Sharma or Praveen Kumar can seek Zaheer Khan for advice on bowling, a Suresh Raina or Abhinav Mukund can walk up to Sachin Tendulkar to counsel on batting matters, but Dhoni would have to seek expertise outside the team to advise him on wicket-keeping. The Indian captain has a tendency to be rigid in his beliefs; his persistence with Piyush Chawla in the 2011 World Cup, despite the leg-spinner’s repeated failure, is a case in point. Quite clearly Dhoni needs to talk to somebody about his ‘keeping, and its best that he talks to men of proven quality like Knott, Taylor, Engineer or Kirmani.
(H Natarajan, formerly All India Deputy Sports Editor of the Indian Express and Senior Editor with Cricinfo/Wisden, is the Executive Editor of CricketCountry.com. A prolific writer, he has written for many of the biggest newspapers, magazines and websites all over the world. A great believer in the power of social media, he can be followed on Facebook at facebook/H.Natarajan and on Twitter at twitter/hnatarajan)
