‘He's one of the most exceptional keepers against spin’ – R Ashwin names best keeper in Dhoni, Karthik and Saha

Ravichandran Ashwin has picked the third-most wickets for India in Test cricket. He surpassed Harbhajan Singh’s tally of 417 wickets while playing against New Zealand. Ashwin made his Test debut when Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the captain and wicketkeeper of the Indian cricket team.

After Dhoni retired from Test cricket, Wriddhiman Saha was touted to be his successor. However, in recent times, Rishabh Pant has been the first choice of the Indian selectors. Ashwin has played with all these three for a considerable number of matches. Also, he has been playing with Dinesh Karthik for Tamil Nadu ever since he made his debut for his state team.

Hence, Ashwin might be the right person to select the best keeper against spin among Dhoni, Karthik and Saha. A fan asked him this same question during an interaction on his YouTube channel and Ashwin named Dhoni as someone who was “exceptional” against spin.

“Dhoni, Saha, and DK – in that order, you can take the answer. It is very difficult to separate them behind the stumps,” Ashwin answered.

‘Some really really tough dismissals have been made look easy’ – Ashwin on Dhoni’s wicketkeeping skills

Ashwin mentioned that he had played a lot of cricket with Dinesh Karthik for Tamil Nadu. He also mentioned that Dhoni has made some of the toughest dismissals look easy.

“I’ve played a lot of cricket with Dinesh in Tamil Nadu. But if I’ve to pick one.. I think some really really tough dismissals have been made look easy just the man behind the stumps (MS Dhoni).”

Ashwin specifically mentioned how Dhoni dismissed Ed Cowan of Australia in the first Test of Australia’s tour of India in 2013. Ashwin bowled the 13th over of the game and dismissed Cowan for 29 runs. Dhoni made 224 runs in the first innings as India won the match by eight wickets, and Dhoni won the player of the match award.

“There’s this one dismissal of Ed Cowan in Chennai on Day 1 where he steps out and gets stump. The ball didn’t turn but it bounced, and MS Dhoni collected the ball. I’ve hardly seen him miss anything, be it stumping or run-out catches. He’s one of the most exceptional keepers against spin. Saha is not far behind either,” Ashwin said while remembering Dhoni’s dismissal of Cowan.