MS Dhoni once again shows his mastery behind the stumps

MS Dhoni has been the poster boy of Indian cricket for more than a decade now. He burst onto the scene as a powerful hitter of the cricket ball and became famous for his unorthodox shotmaking skills. As his career moved forward he matured into the role to become one of the best finishers in world cricket. Dhoni stayed at world no.1 in ICC ODI rankings for over a year. While his batting earned him many plaudits, his mastery behind the stumps has often been overlooked.

MS Dhoni brilliantly stumped Jason Holder

His batting has been an asset for the team but his keeping technique and swiftness behind the stumps is a great boon too. Dhoni is quite innovative and has invented many new techniques like hitting the wickets without looking at them – the deflection. This helps him save some important milliseconds which eventually makes a difference in affecting a dismissal.

Yesterday West Indies were 89/4 and needed their captain Jason Holder to bail them out. Holder came down the track against Ashwin but he missed the ball. Dhoni was quick to sense the oppurtunity and removed the bails at lightening speed to affect the stumping. Replays suggested the batsman’s foot was in the air when the bails were rattled and the Indian team had another important wicket.

MSD has now affected 97 stumpings in One Day Internationals and is now only 3 dismissals short of becoming the first keeper in history to affect 100 stumpings in One Day Internationals. The legendary wicketkeeper-batsman is now only two short Kumar Sangakkara’s record of 99 stumpings. He has already left behind the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Moin Khan.

MS Dhoni played a good hand with the bat too

Dhoni was in good form with the bat yesterday scoring 78 in 79 balls helping India to post 251 which was good score on this pitch. Indian bowlers came up with a clinical performance to skittle out West Indies for just 158 and India registered a 93-run victory to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

Here is the video of Dhoni’s splendid glovework

pic.twitter.com/qE41Sw5w6y

— Ashok Dinda (@lKR1088) June 30, 2017