Is MS Dhoni a better wicketkeeper than Adam Gilchrist?

MS Dhoni

Kumar Sangakara

Adam Gilchrist

Imprint Boucher.

If speed is a question, it is MS Dhoni.

Dhoni has successfully completed super human stumpings at lighting speed for the like of Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Yuzi Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and several others.

But for most of his career, the spinner for who Gilly kept the most was Shane Warne.

Speed for a wicket keeper is the parameter used to determine their stumpings and effecting run outs. From this point of view, Dhoni takes it.

But overall keeping considered, there is not much to separate the two.

Both are legends of the game and were(are) invaluable to their sides.

When it comes down to naming the best wicketkeeper in Cricket history, many would name Adam Gilchrist. Undoubtedly, with the gloves on, no one can really outmatch the real of charm of Adam Gilchrist. However, continuing to perform remarkably as wicketkeeper, batsman and captain, MS Dhoni has emerged to be a name that people are drawing comparisons with Adam Gilchrist. While comparing these two is simply absurd, but as cricket fans, we cannot help but go ahead anyway.

Dhoni idolize Gilchrist, considering him his role model in his early days. And on multiple occasions, Gilchrist too has praised Dhoni- “He’s (Dhoni) very effective and street-smart. I think he’s the quickest stumper that I’ve ever seen. You can have a perfect textbook technique and miss a stumping because you’re a bit slow”.

What defines a good Wicketkeeper? It’s the number of dismissals—Stumpings and catches. Now let’s see…

ODI: Dhoni (Catches- 263; Stumpings- 89 ) | Gilchrist (Catches- 417; Stumpings- 55 )

TEST: Dhoni (Catches- 256; Stumpings- 38 ) | Gilchrist (Catches- 379; Stumpings- 37 )

When you total the stumpings and catches of both Test and ODIs, Gilchrist wins hands-down.

Even as batsman, they were both remarkable, one better than the other in different departments (Average, Strike Rate, Most Sixes, More Run, and so forth). But this discussion is for another time.