Cricket News

Rashid Latif believes MS Dhoni was not a good wicketkeeper

MS Dhoni, often regarded as one of the best wicketkeepers, had a lot of success behind the stumps. Apart from his lightning-quick stumping, Dhoni took 256 catches in Test cricket, 321 catches in ODI cricket, and 51 catches in T20I cricket.

Despite his success and brilliance with the gloves, former Pakistani skipper and wicketkeeper Rashid Latif believes that MS Dhoni was not a good wicketkeeper. Latif then used statistics to back up his assertion, claiming that Dhoni had a drop percentage of 21.

“Dhoni was a batsman-wicketkeeper. Obviously, Dhoni is a very big name. But if I go into stats, his dropping percentage is 21 per cent, which is huge, huge,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel.

Latif then compared Dhoni to Australia’s Adam Gilchrist and former South African great Mark Boucher, both of whom were outstanding wicketkeepers. “You can’t use my record because this particular record came into being from 2002 or 2003. We had already played by then. Adam Gilchrist had a percentage of only 11, Mark Boucher was very good. Australia’s Tim Paine started well but towards the end dropped a lot of catches,” Latif said.

The former Pakistan gloveman then lauded Ian Healy as one of the greatest keepers he has ever seen. Latifi said because of his ability to face Shane Warne in spin-friendly subcontinent tracks he was the best in business. Speaking of current players, he expressed his admiration for South Africa’s Quinton de Kock.

“If you look at the best in last 15 years, then I would say Quinton de Kock is superb, has kept in all three formats and batted at the top of the order in white ball cricket,” he said.

Latif on Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik

Recently, Latif questioned the skills of current Indian wicketkeepers Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant. “In franchise cricket he (Dinesh Karthik) is fine but when it comes to playing for India, they have 3 to 4 quality batters. How and where will he (Karthik) bat in those 20 overs? But yes, if after him, it comes down to Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant playing the last 12 balls, India are losing the game,” he said.