India tour of New Zealand - Jan to Feb 2014

[AbhishekS]

Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel.

 

[Aalay]

There are no keeper batsman as good as Dhoni in domestic right now. People say that Saha is a very good wicket keeper but what I have seen so far of him, he does not look too good to me. His batting is also not good enough to take over from Dhoni. Parthiv Patel is horrible, end of the story. Dinesh Karthik is the likely replacement I can see but his keeping is dodgy as well. Karthik might be better suited to test batting but his keeping still worries me but out of all 3 that has been mentioned, Karthik is the strongest one to replace Dhoni.

There is also a good young wicket keeper who is playing for Punjab right now in ranji trophy with a very impressive FC record. I have not seen his batting or wicket keeping so can't say much about it but he does average 48 in FC.

Uday Kaul | India Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo

I feel Dhoni needs to play his natural game in test cricket rather than playing the defensive game. It looks like he is trying way too much on the game which does not come naturally to him and that is the reason he is failing. The way he played against Australia last year was the best example of what he can do when he plays his natural game.

 

[vaibhavtewatia]

Just wondering who you guys think would be a better option than Dhoni? The last time I remember someone keeping instead of him was Saha I think, and that was a while ago.

People will say that Karthik has a better technique and temperament required to play test cricket. Not that he cannot be recalled, but he didn't perform in his last outings.

I like Wridhimann Saha tbh, he doesn't have great technique with the bat, but the few chances he's got, he hasn't been awful. Would give him a go before Karthik. Also Saha is wonderful behind the wickets.

 

[AbhishekS]

Well please don't question Dinesh Karthik's keeping skills. I think he is the best in India right now as far as pure wicket-keeping skills are concerned.

Parthiv Patel is also scoring 100s and 50s in Ranji just like Karthik. So both are in good touch.

But because of the wicket-keeping abilities, Karthik has an edge over Patel and I believe over Dhoni too for test cricket.

 

[Aalay]

Hah Karthik is best wicket keeper in India? I would pick Dhoni and Saha any day over Karthik based on just wicket keeping skills. However, if you look at test batting than Karthik would be in front just because he has far better technique than any other.

 

[shravi]

Random thought: My favorite DK moment-

 

[surendar]

If India is going to win in NZ, I really doubt that this would change until 2015 World Cup with Dhoni continuing all the formats. He is a high profilic skipper to have achieved various milestones in almost all the formats of this game, so it is not just going to happen only because overseas record is not looking good. Our overseas record have never been good anytime for the fact.

Am not defending Dhoni in test format, but we are not having matured modeled systems for these things to happen all of a sudden. At this time, there are no signs of our Indian team management being unhappy with the skipper.

 

[Epic]

Just wondering who you guys think would be a better option than Dhoni? The last time I remember someone keeping instead of him was Saha I think, and that was a while ago.

Close call between Dinesh Karthik and Wriddhiman Saha, I'll go for Karthik on age alone because when I see Dhoni giving up the gloves in Tests is around the same time as Surendar, which would see Saha into his 30s.

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Had nothing better to do, so I thought I'd dig into Dhoni's Test record...

MS Dhoni inside the Indian subcontinent

MS Dhoni at home

MS Dhoni away

MS Dhoni outside the Indian subcontinent

Anyone see the pattern there?

 

[SaiSrini]

On the question of future captaincy - Pujara and Kohli give me the same feeling as that of Dravid and Ganguly. Both are future captaincy materials. Kohli also has that Tendulkar streak in him (to be Indian batting's potential torchbearer).

I would personally want Pujara to be our test captain, Kohli to be our captain in ODI's and T20's (after Dhoni's retirement in these formats; Dhoni will never be dropped as captain until he retires in ODI's/T20's). But I want Pujara to be an integral part of the ODI team soon. Pujara, Rahane and Kohli will make a very solid lineup in tests and ODI's.

 

[Aalay]

If you look at India's test lineup right now, when Dhoni retires, only 2 people in this team have their place secured. That is Pujara and Kohli so it does make sense to choose the next captain between those 2. Unless they think Ishant Sharma can be a better captain. I actually would not mind Pujara as the test team captain. Looks calm but I don't think he has had enough experience of captaincy. I know he has captained India in couple of A tours before but not sure how it would turn out for him. Would he be able to play the same way with the pressure of captaincy? Surely an interesting call though.

 

[SaiSrini]

If you look at India's test lineup right now, when Dhoni retires, only 2 people in this team have their place secured. That is Pujara and Kohli so it does make sense to choose the next captain between those 2. Unless they think Ishant Sharma can be a better captain. I actually would not mind Pujara as the test team captain. Looks calm but I don't think he has had enough experience of captaincy. I know he has captained India in couple of A tours before but not sure how it would turn out for him. Would he be able to play the same way with the pressure of captaincy? Surely an interesting call though.

Pujara looks the cool head to me, who can handle pressure better and also from that point of view, he can multi task (ie. handle captaincy and batting) better. And Kohli due to his hot temper attitude and aggression, gives the old fashioned impression that he might not multi task as well. But Kohli has been surprising me so far. (So far) He has been surpassing everything that you expect of a guy who is hot headed and who wears emotions on his sleeves.

So you don't know. To me, both are good candidates. But the prime thing is, their batting should not get affected. If both continue their batting well, India will be superbly served.

 

[zeustrojanstark]

Dinesh Karthik is the best replacement for MSD i accept but DK is a top order batsman and i don't see him do wonders with the bat at No.6, in fact neither Patel nor Saha can do wonders at that position. All the three are top order batsman but changing the batting order would be stupid because it looks settled for now. Maybe not the correct time to look beyond Dhoni who can bat lower down and can keep well too. He just needs to be more innovative with his captaincy skills when he is abroad. Even in IPL 2009 in Africa Dhoni's captaincy was bad relatively.

 

[prasoonvidhu]

I think another good wicketkeeper to look forward to in India is Sanju Samson...seems to be doing good in whatever I heard of him

 

[greymatter776]

I think another good wicketkeeper to look forward to in India is Sanju Samson...seems to be doing good in whatever I heard of him

I dont want him to come to the team so early but accepts the fact that he is talented and is in good form.He just hit a century in the U-19 Asia cup final vs Pakistan yesterday.And the good news no one discusssed is that India is the Asia cup champions.

 

[SaiSrini]

I dont want him to come to the team so early but accepts the fact that he is talented and is in good form.He just hit a century in the U-19 WC final vs Pakistan yesterday.And the good news no one discusssed is that India is the WC champions yet again.

It was the Asia Cup final, not U-19 WC final. India have just won the U-19 Asia Cup by beating Pakistan in the final