World wicket keepers, your rankings.

[Smudge]

A compelling case, Jono. But I can't help but be endeared to sledger's naivety. I think I'll stick with his thorough summary of Dhoni's career so far.

 

[sledger]

Honestly did you watch a single ODI he played against SL and Pakistan recently.

i did, and although my devils advocate approach might be over critical, i stand by my sentiments that he is no more than a rank average player, and will be found out to a greater extent than he has already. Will he be in the test side 2 years down the line ? personally i doubt it very much.

 

[SJS]

1. Akmal
2. Gilchrist
3. Boucher
4. Taibu
5. Sangakarra

 

[honestbharani]

But don't you think he WILL be in the INdian ODI side even after two years? I think whoever rated Dhoni high specifically talked about his record in ODIs as a clinching factor in his own ratings. I am not saying I agree with any of it, but if someone IS to go purely by records in ODIs, Dhoni should obviously be up there.


Edit: This was in response to Sledger's post.

 

[sledger]

i wasnt talking about his inclusion in ODIs.

 

[Jono]

i did, and although my devils advocate approach might be over critical, i stand by my sentiments that he is no more than a rank average player, and will be found out to a greater extent than he has already. Will he be in the test side 2 years down the line ? personally i doubt it very much.

Once again I am confused as to why you bring up tests, when I've never tried to doubt your claim.

What was wrong with the way he played Murali in that 183 not out? What did he do wrong against Pakistan when he came out at 7 and needed 7rpo for over 20 overs?

I just don't get why you would have a go at him in ODIs. Fair enough if you don't rate his technique or temperament in test cricket, but as I've said millions of times, I've never questioned that. I can't help but think you're basing a lot of this on the shot he played in the 4th innings of the 3rd test against England. If so, what's that got to do with ODI cricket?

 

[sledger]

nothing at all, i dont doubt his capabilities to be a destructive one day batsman, all i'm saying is that you can be that without neccesarily possesing much talent.

 

[honestbharani]

nothing at all, i dont doubt his capabilities to be a destructive one day batsman, all i'm saying is that you can be that without neccesarily possesing much talent.

But the guy who ranked him high made it clear that he did it based on his ODI performances. Why do you have to disagree with him then? It is clear that tests are not important for that person.

 

[sledger]

i apologse for that, my qualm with that statistic was the fact that despite he is ranked highly, and has had sucess, i dont rate his ability, his sucess relies heavily on powerful pinch hitting, with little else to his game, i'm merely making the observation that there are far far better players in the game.

 

[honestbharani]

feel free to do that and to be honest, I agree with you to a large extent. But since that guy is making his list based on ODI records, he deserved to be up there in THAT PARTICULAR list.


AS far as my rankings go,

Akmal
Gilchrist
Sangakkara
McCullum/Boucher
Jones
Ramdin/Dhoni


mainly based on tests. I don't think the WK's role is as crucial in ODIs. Their batting prowess is more important. At least, it is DEEMED to be more important by the people in charge.

 

[sledger]

yeah fair enough mate, agree with what you have said there, although the fact that keeping ability alone is being more and more overlooked by the people in high positions for me is a cause for concern.

 

[honestbharani]

yeah fair enough mate, agree with what you have said there, although the fact that keeping ability alone is being more and more overlooked by the people in high positions for me is a cause for concern.

It is even filtering into test cricket now. Otherwise Jones and Dhoni would have never played over Read and Kaarthick.

 

[sledger]

i can understand why jones got a chance ahead of read, but i would say that either jones is persisted with (as hes not dreadful, just poor) or read returns, trying prior would be a step in the right direction, but as far as im concerned karthik should never have been dropped from the test side, his ability keeping and batting in terms of test standard is far superior to dhonis, a sad state of affairs really, and too many people ttrying to emulate the success of gilchrist.

 

[honestbharani]

i can understand why jones got a chance ahead of read, but i would say that either jones is persisted with (as hes not dreadful, just poor) or read returns, trying prior would be a step in the right direction, but as far as im concerned karthik should never have been dropped from the test side, his ability keeping and batting in terms of test standard is far superior to dhonis, a sad state of affairs really, and too many people ttrying to emulate the success of gilchrist.

I remember the success of Jayasuriya having a similar effect on all teams. Heck, even a minorly succesful strategy like that of Symcox or Klusener at 3 as pinch hitters made all teams look for one. I can never forget the day Kumble came out as India's pinch hitter. Felt India had hit a new low then. Thank God for Pathan.