Former Indian skipper, MS Dhoni is arguably one of the best wicket-keepers in the world. He is by far the best wicketkeeper India has ever produced. His unorthodox style of glovework has provoked a lot of discussion over the years, but none questioned his abilities. He doesn’t follow the coaching manual and has his own technique. His style of catching the ball is something the coaches ask young cricketers to avoid.

An undebatable fact is his stumping speed, he is next to none when it comes to the swiftness to effect stumpings in international cricket. The Ranchi gloveman, known for his brilliant reflexes behind the wickets, has 172 stumpings, 33 more than his nearest rival Kumar Sangakkara.

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Every batsman of this era is well aware of the fact that he is in some serious trouble once you cross the ‘crease’ and is MS behind the stumps. It just takes a bit less than a blink of an eye and the bails are off.

Dhoni often puzzles the batsmen with his incredible keeping and stumpings. He is so quick and confident about his skills that you don’t need a second look when he appeals with confidence. The most successful Indian skipper has 768 scalps to his name so far. He is third on the list of most dismissals affected by a wicketkeeper behind Mark Boucher (998) and Adam Gilchrist (905).

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On Friday, Dhoni talked about his “unorthodox keeping style” that makes him one of the most effective men behind the wickets in world cricket. He revealed that he has rarely kept wickets in net sessions even during the Indian Premier League (IPL). He said, “I think it’s because of my unorthodox keeping style. Stephen Fleming always says that he has never seen me keep wickets in net sessions in his nine years of IPL coaching. I think a lot of it needs to be done in the mind.”

Mahi further elaborated, “Keepers don’t really need a lot of catching. I have seen over-exaggeration from some keepers. They start going on the floor, ‘very frog style’ of keeping and ‘jaw is parallel to the floor’. What is a keeper supposed to do? You can drop 100 balls, but whenever there is a catch you take it and whenever there is a stumping opportunity, you take it. That’s what’s needed. You don’t want a very good keeper who is not consistent. You want a very bad keeper who keeps fumbling, but takes catches, effects stumping and helps captain set the right field.”