• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Brendon McCullum vs M.S. Dhoni

Who is better?


  • Total voters
    55

Perm

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I don't rate either very highly in Test cricket, and with good reason. Dhoni and McCullum are both good wicket-keepers who have improved dramatically over the last few seasons, and that includes both forms of the games. However, both are very mediocre Test batsmen who have played only a few good knocks and definitely haven't proven themselves at that level.

Dhoni's entire Test batting career is built on one knock - his 148 against Pakistan back in 2006. Let's not forget that Pakistan and India both scored around 600 in their first innings, and Pakistan's second innings yielded almost 500 runs. Other than that, what has he really done? Smashed around the West Indian spinners (one of them being Chris Gayle) in his 69, notched up another decent score, 92, against England when his team made 650-odd and made another half century when his team scored 600+. He's proven himself as a flat-track bully and has really only played one top innings at Test cricket, a match-saving 76* against England at Lords. There have been a couple of other decent knocks, his first Test half-century, 51* against Sri Lanka, and a very patient 57* against Pakistan. It shows there is some talent there, but it doesn't seem as though Dhoni will be a good #7 for India at all, other than the occasional flashy knock.

McCullum's career on the other hand is pretty easy to read. His sole centuries at Test level have come against minnows, he averages in the mid twenties and he's batted in the top, middle and lower order. Do the commentators/players/fans rate him as a Test batsman? No, but they think he has potential. Maybe that's true to an extent, but he has been far too inconsistent. He has played some good knocks, but a fair amount of his fifties have come on flat decks, and he hasn't really batted well against a top class bowling line-up so far.

In ODI cricket, Dhoni is easily a better batsman and I'd like to meet somebody who honestly thinks differently. An average of over 40, very high strike rate, has played match-winning and also match-saving knocks. One of the best ODI batsman going around IMO.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Dhoni's a much much better ODI batsman, and I can't see any argument against that.

In tests though I really have no idea. Probably McCullum but they both don't really peform when they really need to atm.
 

Leslie1

U19 Captain
I'm damn sure it's at me... check out my avatar.:ph34r:
Are you a ND fan too perm? :happy:

TBF, McCullum even if he took the right option and opted for the mighty ND side I'd still be saying the same thing about the way he plays atm versus the way he could have played in tests.
 

Halfpast_Yellow

U19 Vice-Captain
TBH I voted McCullum before reading that it was a test only comparison. McCullum hasn't set the world on fire in the test arena.
 

slowfinger

International Debutant
Dhoni's a much much better ODI batsman, and I can't see any argument against that.

In tests though I really have no idea. Probably McCullum but they both don't really peform when they really need to atm.
What? Did you see his catch against England, pretty much sums up that he is older and better still, Dhoni is more of a batsman and Mccullum is a useless batsmen in tests cos all he does is slogs.

I voted for Mccullum
because he can perform when he likes, although he does bat with Ryder awesome aswell, so no complaints there.:)
 

GGG

State Captain
There is reason why Saha was given the gloves ahead of McCullum in the recent Twenty20 match, cus his keeping isn't that great..
Lol yeah thats the reason, nothing at all to do with the fact that he was absolutely nacked. Lol stupidist thing I have read in a long time.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
McCullum is a talent, not even PEWS, who hates him because he scores fast I imagine, can't dispute that.
That's extremely harsh.
He burst onto the test scene and looked right at home, averaging in the high thirties
McCullum never averaged in the high-30s against Test-class teams. He averaged in the mid-30s against teams other than Australia, which is a decent effort, but recently that's gone down again.
 

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
Lol yeah thats the reason, nothing at all to do with the fact that he was absolutely nacked. Lol stupidist thing I have read in a long time.
I wouldn't go that far...Pujara would have played instead of Saha if the original plan was to keep with McCullum.
 

GGG

State Captain
I wouldn't go that far...Pujara would have played instead of Saha if the original plan was to keep with McCullum.

I read that after his innings he threw the gloves to Saha and told him to keep. Either way it has absolutely nothing to do with either of them being a better keeper than McCullum. If someone thinks that McCullum is that bad that a no name Indian domestic player is better, then that person has either never seen him wicketkeep or hates him for no other reason than to hate him.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
McCullum is a talent, not even PEWS, who hates him because he scores fast I imagine, can't dispute that.
I suppose I think Gilchrist is crap then too, eh? I didn't enjoy watching him bat as much as I did a lot of players, but he was awesome. I actually think he's under-rated as a batsman - people think of him as a wicket-keeper/batsman who revolutionised the game, but I don't think he's mentioned enough when discussing the great batsmen of the 90s given his record. Yet he scored really quickly, so I have to "hate" him now. Wow.

Whether I like McCullum or not isn't particularly relevant to how highly I rate him. It's not I who rates him inaccuately because of how quickly he scores - it is all those who insist he is a rare talent because he can score run-a-ball hundreds. He simply hasn't scored the runs required to be rated as highly as he is, and he's regarded as being extremely talented purely because he plays lots of shots and it comes off sometimes.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Flem said:
However much Rich and PEWS talk about his failures he still averages 50 odd, and he's scored against each nation he's played against this summer. He's also played quite smartly and used his brain, which has lacked in other opening stints. The big test though is, will this new method get figured out? The Aussies tried slower balls which worked eventualy in his 96 and quite well in his other innings. The English are firing it down the legside, which IIRC hasn't worked as of yet. I think he'll encounter a few problems as all batsmen do but he's got the ability to get better.
I didn't say anything about his ODI feats though. He seems to be quite effective as an ODI opener. I didn't consider it at all though - I based all my posts in this thread on his Test career.
 

Flem274*

123/5
I suppose I think Gilchrist is crap then too, eh? I didn't enjoy watching him bat as much as I did a lot of players, but he was awesome. I actually think he's under-rated as a batsman - people think of him as a wicket-keeper/batsman who revolutionised the game, but I don't think he's mentioned enough when discussing the great batsmen of the 90s given his record. Yet he scored really quickly, so I have to "hate" him now. Wow.

Whether I like McCullum or not isn't particularly relevant to how highly I rate him. It's not I who rates him inaccuately because of how quickly he scores - it is all those who insist he is a rare talent because he can score run-a-ball hundreds. He simply hasn't scored the runs required to be rated as highly as he is, and he's regarded as being extremely talented purely because he plays lots of shots and it comes off sometimes.
Sorry, didn't mean to offend, probably should have put a :p in there. I just know your love of *8 (108) players. I'm judging his talent off his U-19 record and his hand eye coordination. I'm not saying he's Sachin however he's developing along nicely (I remember in 2005 saying about how useless he was to mates and the bugger scored a fifty of something against Aus in an ODI pressure situation).
 

Flem274*

123/5
I didn't say anything about his ODI feats though. He seems to be quite effective as an ODI opener. I didn't consider it at all though - I based all my posts in this thread on his Test career.
His test career has been disapointing so far. He's shown he can bat however he needs to get his head out of ODI mode, which will hopefully happens as he develops his batting more. He's played some stuff around and domestic games as a batsman only IIRC so hopefully he learnt alot about responsibility at the crease from that. Hopefully he gets his keeping back on track though.
 

_Ed_

Request Your Custom Title Now!
He's played some excellent Test innings already, a couple of scores in the mid-to-high 90s against England and Sri Lanka (might have been 99 against SL in fact).

Just needs to get the consistency in his Test batting that he's found in the limited-overs game in recent times.
 

sideshowtim

Banned
McCullum is yet to score an international century against a team that isn't Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, and hasn't even scored one in an ODI if you include those teams. He is pretty highly overrated, and while I feel Dhoni is slightly overrated too, I'd take him in my team over McCullum always.
 

Top