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.
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.
Nice writing..👍🏼
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