South Africa vs India: R Sridhar showers praises on MS Dhoni and his glovework

Team India’s fielding coach R Sridhar recently showered praises on the Indian wicketkeeper MS Dhoni. On the eve of the fifth ODI of the ongoing series against South Africa, Sridhar remarked that Dhoni has been phenomenal with the gloves for the Indian team. The Indian fielding coach, who had earlier admitted that India were below par with their fielding in Jo’Burg, went on to quote that Dhoni has his own brand of wicketkeeping.

He feels that the uniqueness that MS Dhoni brings to the table with his glovework sets him apart from everybody else in the league. Sridhar remarked that Dhoni has great hand-eye coordination. When the spinners are in context, there is certainly nobody else ahead of Dhoni in the race. MS Dhoni recently completed his 400 ODI dismissals. He further added that it will indeed be very difficult or India to replace him.

“Dhoni has got his own style, which is so successful for him. I think we can do a research into his style of wicketkeeping and I would like to call it ‘The Mahi Way’. There are so many things to learn from that and so many things that other young keepers may not even be able to contemplate. He is unique in his own way and that is exactly how cricketers should be ‘unique in their own way’,” R Sridhar quoted.

“He has got great hands. He has definitely the best glovesman as far as keeping for spinners goes. His hands work at the speed of lightning, for stumpings we all know that. That is something which is very innate to him and great to watch. At the same time, for somebody who doesn’t have that skill, it’s a big challenge to get there,” he added further praising MS Dhoni.

‘Produce more finishers’

While Dhoni has been known for his wicketkeeping, his primary skills with the bat as the finisher is also very prominent. However, in the recent times, the team management has often promoted other players ahead of MS Dhoni in the batting lineup. As per the quotes in Times of India, R Sridhar tried to cite reasons for the same. He remarked that the team and the cricket world knows about the abilities of Dhoni.

However, the need of the hour is to create more finishers like him. Also, the team wants their lower middle order to learn how to adapt to tough situations. Hence, there has been a rotation among the players in the Indian lower middle-order.

“The whole endeavour is to look at the state of the game and see which player can be the best at that particular situation. And to give our other batsmen, apart from obviously MS, a chance to go there, take the responsibility and take the game till the end,” Sridhar noted.

“We want more finishers, we want to train and groom more finishers. At the same time, we also want our nos. 5, 6, 7 to be able to go in, learn the situation and adapt to it. That is why you see the rotation, but very soon I think we will be settling into a fixed 5, 6 & 7 as we get closer to the World Cup,” Sridhar noted further.

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