Port Elizabeth: India’s fielding coach R Sridhar feels that Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s unorthodox style of wicket-keeping works well for him.
The former Indian skipper hasn’t been someone who is very classical with his wicket-keeping. Also, he doesn’t give much focus to keeping drills and still is able to amaze well with his quick-fire stumpings.
“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’,” said Sridhar.
Dhoni has 295 catches and 106 stumpings to his name in ODIs.
Further heaping praise on the World Cup winning skipper, Sridhar stated, “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.”
The numbers haven’t been too favourable for the Indians at the St. George’s Park-the venue for the fifth ODI. In a total of five attempts, the men in blue are yet to win their first match at the ground but nonetheless, they are on the brink of winning their first-ever ODI series on South African soil.
But an area of concern is definitely the batting, which has been over-reliant on skipper Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan.
Addressing this issue, Sridhar said, “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.
“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.”