MS Dhoni, the former Indian skipper is regarded as one of the finest keeper-batsmen to have played the game. However, ever since MS Dhoni took a sabbatical from the sport, the wicketkeeper’s position in the team has been more like a musical chairs game.
While in the longest format of the game, the wicketkeeper’s position has been juggling between Wriddhiman Saha and Rishabh Pant but on the other hand, when it comes to the limited format of the game, an array of cricketers have been tested for the position.
After MS Dhoni, initially, the duty of wicket-keeping came on the shoulders of Rishabh Pant in the limited-overs format of the game. However, even after getting many opportunities, Rishabh Pant failed to impress everyone with his wicket-keeping skills. As a result, team management decided to rope in KL Rahul as the new wicket-keeper on India. Apart from them, Dinesh Karthik was also given an occasional run in the limited format.
Recently, in interaction with cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra, Indian cricketer Parthiv Patel said that the board is very impatient when it comes to the position of wicket-keepers. He said:
“Personally, I think that with wicket-keepers, we are very impatient. We can’t expect (them to perform) in every match and every series. I played two Tests in South Africa, then Dinesh Karthik played two Tests in England, then in Australia, both Karthik and Saha weren’t there, so Rishabh Pant played,”
As per Parthiv, board is trying to fix something which is not broken. He feels that Saha is perfect for the wicket-keeping position. He said:
“According to me, we are trying to fix something that is not broken. Now that we have Saha, we don’t have a reason to do anything else. I feel that against England when they asked me to open, I opened. In the 5th Test, my third of the series, Vijay injured his shoulder and I opened after keeping for 170 overs,”
Furthermore, Parthiv also opened up about being called ‘unlucky’ to be born in the era of MS Dhoni. Talking about the same, he admitted that he didn’t perform well. He said:
“Many people have told me that I was unlucky to have been born in the era of MS Dhoni. But I played cricket for India before Dhoni and it would be wrong to seek sympathy by saying that I couldn’t play because of Dhoni. I didn’t perform well and as a result, Dinesh Karthik played. After him, Dhoni played,”
