In the midst of all the glitz and glam of the Indian Premier League, if there is one category of cricketers who remain wrapped in the shadows they are the wicket-keepers. During an exhilarating contest of bat and the ball, a couple of gloves silently keep on doing their magic behind the timbre.
Unless there is a flying catch or a blitzkrieg stumping, hardly anyone bats an eye because it is something that must be done. Believe me, a wicket-keeper is far more than that. He is a man who towers himself as the guard between the bowlers and the ropes as he keeps on copping everything that the batsman leaves or nicks.
In this story, we will take a quick look at the five most successful keepers of the IPL in the tournament’s glittering antiquity. The comparison has been done on the premise of dismissals effected by the monikers.
#1 MS Dhoni
Needless to say, but Dhoni easily tops the chart with 157 dismissals in the Indian Premier League. He has been a part of the tournament ever since its inception and has played 211 matches. He has managed to claim 118 catches and affect 39 stumpings. He has managed to score 4669 runs at an average of 40.25. He will most likely be playing his last edition of the domestic extravaganza as Chennai Super Kings will kick off their IPL’s second phase with a rollicking clash against defending champions, Mumbai Indians.
#2 Dinesh Karthik
Karthik has been one of the most phenomenal wicket-keepers of the tournament but his inconsistent batting has thrown him off the grid of popularity. He has managed to affect 152 dismissals from 203 matches. He has been a decent batter despite a sharp decline in his form in recent days. He has grabbed 121 catches and has executed 31 stumpings effectively.
#3 Robin Uthappa
This is kind of an unexpected addition to the list as Robin Uthappa has always been a formidable batsman in the tournament. He has silently established himself as an astonishing wicket-keeper with 119 dismissals under his belt. He has bagged 87 catches and pulled off 32 stumpings. Though he is not as fast as Karthik and Dhoni, yet he has been a reliable appellation in the tournament.
#4 Parthiv Patel
The diminutive wicket-keeper has actually been an absolute live wire in terms of wicket-keeping. He has managed to successfully affect 85 dismissals that star 69 catches and 16 stumpings. He has been a decent batter too as his batting exploits read 2848 runs at a strike rate of 120 plus. He has shuffled quite a few teams throughout the span of the tournament as inconsistency has been his biggest bane.
#5 Naman Ojha
When Ojha started his IPL career, his showdowns promised a lot of excitement. Sadly, for him, the promise ran out too fast and before he could manifest himself upon the fabric of the tournament, things fizzled out way too soon for him. His last full-blown season came in 2017 where he played 14 matches. From the 113 matches that he has played in the tournament, he has managed to claim 74 dismissals which can be segregated into 64 catches and 10 stumpings.
