The Story Behind the Stumps

We know the importance of a full-time wicketkeeper because the standard set by MS Dhoni is unbelievable. We know he used to change the game from behind the stumps.

From one decade to another, we have seen many wicket-keepers who played for India in Test as well as ODI’s. We have seen the likes of Syed Kirmani, Kiran More, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni and now we have KL Rahul. However, KL Rahul is still new to this role but his contribution with the bat in the last 3-4 months is amazing. He has emerged as a top-quality batsman in the white-ball cricket. He is now the No.2 batsman in the latest ICC T20 Rankings. 

The last time when India faced a similar situation was in the 1999 ICC World Cup. The Indian team didn’t have any quality backup Wicket keeper as Nayan Mongia was injured right before this major event. From that time Rahul Dravid “The Wall in Indian Cricket” started to keep wickets for India. That was the first time when Team India chose quality batting lineup over a quality Wicket keeper. 

Match-fixing Controversy

After that decade, many things changed because of the Match-fixing controversy. The whole world was shocked by this controversy. Due to this, Sourav Ganguly was handed the captaincy of the Indian Team. It was the start of the decade and an era too. Batsman’s like Sehwag and Yuvraj and Bowlers like Harbhajan and Zaheer made their way into the Indian Team. India was not having full-time Wicket keeper who can bat and be consistent enough. Other teams had orthodox keeper-batsman like Kumar Sangakkara, Mark Boucher, and Adam Gilchrist. There were many Wicket keepers tested during that phase like Parthiv Patel, Deepdas Gupta, etc, but failed to grab this opportunity. Sourav Ganguly then made Rahul Dravid as a full-time Wicket keeper and ended this debate. However, Rahul Dravid was not that good enough for this role, but he was a pure and experienced batsman.

The Arrival of MS Dhoni

After the 2003 World Cup, India found MS Dhoni and the rest we know is history. MS Dhoni kept wickets for almost 10 years in Test Matches and retired in 2014. In this period, the Indian team never required another Wicket keeper. Now, history repeats itself for the Indian team. After the former Cricketer’s golden era coming to an end, India was again in search of a full-time Wicket keeper who can bat and keep accordingly. Indian team tried Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Kartik, but again they were not consistent enough to grab this opportunity. 

India’s Scenario after MS Dhoni

Then Virat Kohli moved to a player whose name was also ‘Rahul’ Virat Kohli believed that if KL Rahul can keep the wickets, he can play an extra batsman to strengthen the batting line up and maintain a proper balance within the team. However, KL Rahul is not much experienced in Wicket-keeping role’s but team management is backing and supporting him. As we know that this is a World Cup year and it can be a great move by the Captain and the team management.