Rashid Latif, a former captain of Pakistan, has criticised MS Dhoni, a former captain of India, for his abilities as a wicketkeeper. Latif, who during his playing career was a wicketkeeper-batter, supported his arguments with statistics. He claimed that Dhoni lost about 21% of his catches, which is a “big” percentage. 256 catches and 38 stumpings in Test cricket, 321 catches and 123 stumpings in ODIs, and 57 catches and 34 stumpings in T20Is were noteworthy accomplishments for Dhoni. Rashid believes that one should also consider how many opportunities a wicketkeeper has missed. “Dhoni was a batsman-wicketkeeper… Dhoni is a big name. But if I go into stats, his (catch) dropping percentage is 21 per cent, which is huge, huge,” Latif said. “Everybody goes to catches but no one notices number of catches dropped, number of stumps missed, number of byes given and missed run-outs, then you get points,” he added.
One of the greatest wicketkeepers of all time, MS Dhoni, announced his retirement from international cricket in August 2020. He continues to compete as a T20 cricket player for Chennai Super Kings, his IPL team. Latif gave his preference for South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock when asked who he thought was the finest wicketkeeper, but he remarked that the southpaw lacked finishing skills. “If you look at the best in last 15 years, the best would be Quinton de Kock. He has kept wickets and batted well in all three formats. He has not been a good finisher but a superb wicketkeeper-batsman,” said Latif. “Before him, there were the likes of Mark Boucher and Kumar Sangakkara,” he concluded.
