Former Indian captain MS Dhoni is regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper batsmen the world has ever seen in the cricket history and the way his stumping skills are far better than anyone, he is equally sloppy in catching or making perfect Decision Review System (DRS) call.
However, during his initial days of career, Dhoni’s keeping wasn’t too good, and apart from that, there were many things Dhoni needed to work upon to become one of the greatest cricketers of his generation. He had also worked on wicketkeeping skills to become one of the finest stumpers.
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Recently, former Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu admitted that he did not think Dhoni will go a long way when he saw him for the first time during the 2004 series.
In an exclusive discussion with Cricket Addictor, Taibu went down memory lane and recalled India A’s 2004 tour of Zimbabwe where both Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni came in as wicketkeeping options.
He further went on to claim that Karthik was more natural than Dhoni and even during the series the Tamil Nadu lad made more runs than the legendary cricketer.
Taibu told Cricket Addictor, “To be very honest, I didn’t think that he [Dhoni] was going to go a long way. I remember watching him and Dinesh Karthik. And for me, Dinesh Karthik was more natural than Dhoni. In the series itself, Dinesh Karthik scored more runs than Dhoni.”
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He was also impressed by Karthik more and even felt he would make it big as compared to Dhoni, but India’s three-time ICC trophy winning captain had improved substantially and gone on to make the history, though saying the latter had a really good eye.
Taibu concluded, “I remember thinking he had a really good eye, that you could pick up. He had a really brilliant eye. But just from my first impression, I thought that Dinesh Karthik was going to make it big than Dhoni. And, then the next series, Dhoni was amazing in Kenya. He scored three hundred (2 hundred and 1 half-century) and that is what led him to be called to the national side.”
Noteworthy, the tri-series in Kenya including Zimbabwe as well proved a turning point for Dhoni’s career, as he racked up 362 runs in 7 matches at an average of 72.40, and then earned a national call-up for the Zimbabwe tour and the rest is known to everyone.
(With Cricket Addictor Inputs)
