MS Dhoni, the name well marked as an excellence in Wicket keeping is nowhere gone, it has been a long tenure for Maahi being the wicket keeper, with no single flaw, he has been proving himself right from the beginning. Over the years, we have seen Dhoni work very hard on his skills behind the stumps and outfox the opposition batters with his unorthodox moves.
Considered as one of the greatest ever wicket-keepers, MS Dhoni has produced many stunning acts with the gloves. We all have seen him how fast he is behind the stumps. Escaping from MS Dhoni’s lightning fast activity behind the stumps is a very rare stuff. It is almost impossible for any batsmen in the world.
Dhoni has recently joined the 300 ODI club after playing in the 4th ODI against Sri Lanka, and he also clinched an exclusive record by bagging 100 stumpings as a wicket keeper As of now, Dhoni is the only player who reached 100 stumpings in ODIs, earlier Sangakkara held the record with 99 in his kitty.
But now, it seems like MS Dhoni is having a competition for the wicketkeeper role in limited-overs cricket and he is none other than Test Wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha. We had seen him performing few outstanding wicket-keeping skills in the longer format of the game. Saha has been the only player to replace MS Dhoni after his retirement from the Test cricket.
Since then, he has been proving himself not only as a wicket-keeper but also as a good middle-order batsman. And now, he is eyeing a place in the 2019 World Cup. Saha said, in fact, it’s his wife Romi who wishes to see him play in the World Cup. “My wife badly wants me to play in the World Cup. She insists that I must push harder to achieve that. I am also trying, but ultimately the decision lies with the selectors,” Saha, who will turn 33 next month, said.
Fresh from their 9-0 clean-sweep over Sri Lanka, India will take on Australia in a five-ODI, three T20Is limited overs series beginning in Chennai on September 17 and Saha feels Virat Kohli and Co will be tough to beat at home. “Beating India in India will always be tough. Australia has done well last time but I will put India ahead,” Saha, who is currently enjoying a break, said at a promotional event.
“India’s bench strength is very strong. The team is preparing for the 2019 World Cup. That’s why the rotation of players is happening. India has been performing well with all sets of players which is a good sign. My preparation is always aimed at bettering my performance. The rest depends on the selection committee. I don’t perform to just play ODIs,” said Saha, who is not a regular in ODIs with nine appearances.
This statement made MS Dhoni fans furious and started firing on Saha. People started trolling Saha by commenting that Saha is way far from Dhoni in both batting and wicketkeeping. Saha just played 9 ODIs and scored 41 runs with an average of 13.66. Dhoni fans questioned him that he can’t even score a fifty in his 9 ODI appearances and how can he compete with MS Dhoni for World Cup 2019.
Saha said current coach Ravi Shastri does not have a different style of coaching to predecessor Anil Kumble. “I have not seen any change in coaching style. At this level, we don’t need to be taught how to bat or bowl, so I really don’t find a lot of difference between the two coaches.”
Saha, after his stint on the Sri Lankan tour, had politely played down the compliments that were showered on him, including Sourav Ganguly’s reported opinion that the Bengal stumper could replace Dhoni in limited overs cricket in future.
Also Watch: MS Dhoni Commits A Rare Wicket-Keeping Blunder Against Sri Lanka