Wicketskeepers across the globe have certain salient features. They are generally chirpy, very energetic, and a livewire behind the stumps. They are streetsmart cricketers and generally are known to be the crisis man of the batting line-up. When they bat for long, the sweep is one of the most prominent shots in their wagon wheel. But not everyone. There are exceptions, albeit few.
MS Dhoni is one of the most prominent ones. The legendary Indian cricketer was neither that chirpy behind the stumps nor did he ever fancy a sweep shot even on turning tracks. Former India cricketer Murali Kartik reminded former India head coach Ravi Shastri about the same when he asked, “name me one keeper who doesn’t sweep,” during their commentary stint on Day 5 of the India vs Bangladesh second Test at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.
The discussion came up when Bangladesh veteran Mushfiqur Rahim was resorting to sweeping shots to combat India spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin during Bangladesh’s second innings. Former Bangladesh cricket Athar Ali Khan said Mushfiqur is a good exponent of the sweep shot. That is when Shastri said, “Name me one keeper whoe doesn’t sweep.”
What Shastri perhaps didn’t expect was fellow commentator Murali Kartik to immediately come up with Dhoni’s name.
Dhoni was a bottom-handed player who never believed in playing the sweep and instead loved to skip down the track to smother the spin.
India use Bazball to hammer Bangladesh
India produced their own version of ‘Bazball’ to squeeze out a remarkable seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh from a seemingly dead test match en route to a 2-0 series sweep on Tuesday.
India’s record-extending 18th consecutive test series victory on home soil was never in doubt after their 280-run romp in the series opener in Chennai.
But after two and half days were lost to bad weather in Kanpur, a draw seemed the likely outcome as only 35 overs were played in the first three days with Bangladesh stuck on 107-3.
Once the visitors folded for 233 in their first innings on Monday, India unleashed the kind of batting blitz unseen in test cricket.
England’s ultra-aggressive batting under coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum has rejuvenated test cricket and India conjured up something similar with their take-no-prisoners batting at the Green Park Stadium.
Skipper Rohit Sharma set the tone by hitting the first two balls he faced for sixes, and India eclipsed Bangladesh’s total in just 28 overs, reaching the 50, 100 and 200 marks in record speed.
It was batting T20 style before India eventually declared on 285-9 giving themselves enough time to remove both the rival openers by stumps on day four.
They returned on Tuesday to claim the remaining eight Bangladesh wickets in an extended morning session to bundle out the tourists for 146.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed his second fifty of the test, which earned him the Player of the Match award, as India chased down the 95-run victory target with a session to spare.
