Samir Dighe was a very good keeper batsman in his younger days. Many in India remember him as a dynamic and gutsy cricketer playing a gem of a finishing knock in an exhibition match played in English territory against arch rivals Pakistan during the no-Sharjah days of Indo-Pak cricket [early 90's]. However it was pretty late in the day when he won a post-Karim Test selection and, barring a crucial finishing act with the bat (ahem..) in a famous one wicket win over Australia during the 2001 home series, Dighe did not prove to be adequate.

Ajay Ratra was picked for a very short duration in early 2002 before being dumped for the 17 year old Parthiv Patel. Parthiv Patel promised much in his first year and then petered away with the gloves, all the while improving with the bat. Dinesh Karthik succeeded Parthiv and looked the best Indian gloveman amongst the boys that donned the gloves in this millenium.

Unfortunately for Dinesh his half-year stay in the Indian team coincided with a low phase of Indian cricket and the emergence of an explosive batsman named Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who could also keep in one-dayers. Karthik, inspite of decent glovework and gutsy shows with the bat in Test matches, got replaced first from the 50 over side and then from the Test matches.

At the best of times Mahendra Singh Dhoni does standard work against fast bowling, impressing more in Tests than one dayers. However he can sometimes be the proverbial English batsman on the wrong side of the stumps with the spinners bowling. At present India look ready to pay for it over a limited duration in the hope of and as an investment into a glorious future, one where Dhoni improves his keeping from continued exposure to quality spinners and provides India the extra leverage afforded by Adam Gilchrist to his side.

Nothing wrong with that, except that Dhoni must win a battle in his mind before getting to the next step to 'Gilchristhood'. It is no mean task to remember at all times his real role when wearing whites, which is quite different and less glamorous than the way Indian press and cricket lovers love to portray his image as a bat wielding Rambo. Dhoni appears to be owner of a level head for now, but roads are known to be slippery for someone on a fast track to stardom in India.

For starters Dhoni would do well the remember that Gilchrist does not care retorting to even the greatest criticism of his unconventional batting methods but even a word of curtness about his keeping is enough to change the expression of his face. Dhoni needs to likewise remember that rather than an established middle order bat who can keep wickets, he is needed more as the aspiring Test wicketkeeper who can bat. Those small white pads are decidedly less charismatic, but his team needs him to shine in them.

In the eventuality of Dhoni not passing muster, India may have to revert back to Dinesh Karthik, which may not be necessarily a bad step. Karthik has the makings of a decent-keeper-gutsy-bat, if not a Gilchrist, and that should do for a start.

What would that make of Dhoni? Do we suggest dropping him? Far from it, he can be the greatest no. 6 ever to play for India.

[to be concluded.....Phew!]

Angshuman, you don't think Dhoni's a good keeper? From what I have seen of him, he seems highly competent. Yes, he misses an occasional chance or two, but who doesn't? Some good things I've noticed about this keeping:

1) He's very good at catching low ones, because he falls forward. A lot of keepers just let them bounce in front of them.

2) He's also very good at leg-side catches. None of the keepers in recent years have shown that ability.

In general, he seems to be pretty sharp. At times, I've seen him nab balls from spinners that stay extremely low. And that's tough.

Pratik
http://yorker.wordpress.com

Hi Pratik

I am a fan of the Dhoni package but Karthik, if you ask me, keeps better. It is a difficult judgement. I am making an instinctive observation while a detailed analysis may prove otherwise. [e.g. the algabraic sum of average positive runs (scored as a batsman) and negative runs (conceded thru dropped catches) for the two]. Also, you do a lot of selection work on gut feeling, not basing decision plainly on today's facts & figures but 'seeing' things that can change in the future....A lot like good captaincy. Perhaps that realisation kept me from having harsher words for Dhoni's keeping than those. [And that was some magnanimity after the England Tests]. Just to prove me wrong he snapped a magnificent low one off Sreesanth yesterday - you see my real intention now?!

I have a simple way of judging natural good catchers and keepers from the rest. They stay very low till the last. I do not think Dhoni does it often as yet, especially at the end of a long day. It is a physical feat as much has anything else; and to repeat that so many times you have to be built to keep.

Angs,

Indian wicket keeping position has been like a game of musical chairs for the past couple of years.

I thought Parthiv Patel was an excellent keeper who could bat reasonably well when he came into the test match arena but during the India v Australia Series of 2004 he lost his confidence and it did more harm than good while retaining him through out the series. I do think though that Parthiv is someone that India needs to invest in, he is only 19 years and is doing well for his state side, one has seen his capability and the talent.

We must guard against these youngsters going wayward and not focusing enough at crucial periods.

There was Sadanand Vishwanath in the early 80’s, who was a brilliant with the gloves. I only remember him from the WSC highlights but he was as promising as any one else.

About MS Dhoni, he has been through a fair share of criticism for his keeping, but has improved a lot. He has kept well in the current series against the West Indies and seems to be coping well to Kumble, which is a healthy sign.

The future of Indian keeping for me lies with Dhoni at the moment and then with Parthiv. Nothing against Dinesh Karthik, at the moment he has odds stacked against him.

Correction in 3rd para - Samir Dighe took part in a TWO wicket win against Australia in 2001.

Param

Parthiv was indeed excellent when he started. However he should have been asked to work much harder on his keeping after the Ausrtalia tour, as he faltered under pressure many times even on the nice pitches in that series. If you ask me then implications of his mistakes were even higher in that series than the next one at home but there India succeeded INSPITE of keeping botches...

There is absolutely no point in blaming a young trier who needed the right feedback. It is just that he was not shown his errors before it was too late for him and his team. Make no mistake, Parthiv had the willingness to work harder but perhaps he was misled to think that his keeping was just fine. As a result he kept improving with the bat while his keeping became shoddier.

If he is doing better of late then it signals happy times for Team India. Not many keepers have been able to produce confident scores against Australia in series where their top order kept struggling.

Sometimes a keeper is just a keeper and not an acrobat. Considering Dhoni's international contemporaries' performance behind the stumps, especially that of the more distinguished ones like Gilchrist and Boucher, his keeping is definitely at par. So everyone needs to just relax and let him keep.

Like Angshuman said, gut feeling often plays a part in every team's selection process. And everyone (the selectors, the captain, teammates and the followers) have a good feeling that Dhoni will deliver in the long run.

Besides, to me he is probably the biggest superstar India has produced of late, grabbing the media spotlight better than Pathan, Yuvraj etc. His presence can only be good for India cricket.

Its worth noting that Dhoni did not concede a single bye- while keeping to two spinners like Singh and Kumble- while the West Indies scored 581 at St. Kitts.

dhoni needs to keep now. india hav to stick with a sid eand stop changing it around. dhoni can keep and he can bat. he hit a 6 first ball in last test match . hahahah that was funi.

Now if only Dhoni could bat better than he did in this series....;)