Dhoni, an excellent batsman, has influenced the role of Indian wicket keepers by focusing on improving wicket-keeping skills. Here's a matrix showing the average performance of past players (Dhoni/Saha), future players (Pant/Ishaan), and those who missed out (Samson and Bharat from Andhra).
Their first class averages are close together, except for Pant who is ahead and despite being branded a high impact player, seems to be destined to do well in Tests. For ODIs (List A indicator), Dhoni leads the pack followed by Saha and then Ishaan with the rest following. Given his good keeping skills and temperament, Ishaan possibly needs a shot at being tried out for ODIs. For T20s, the Dhoni debate may still continue, but Pant seems destined to succeed him there.
| Dhoni | Saha | Samson | Bharat | Pant | Ishaan |
Age | 38 | 34 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 21 |
Tests | 38.09 | 30.63 |
|
| 45.43 |
|
ODIs | 50.57 | 13.66 |
|
| 22.90 |
|
T20Is | 37.60 |
| 19.00 |
| 21.57 |
|
First-class | 36.84 | 42.94 | 36.81 | 37.95 | 51.47 | 38.8 |
List A | 50.38 | 42.74 | 27.36 | 29.11 | 28.67 | 37.45 |
T20s | 39.88 | 24.48 | 27.48 | 14.74 | 34.36 | 25.43 |
The idea of this analysis is to show that though there is such as debate over Dhoni and his career, his impact on the game is possibly more than anyone else who's in competition. He is also a cool head and keeps the bowlers focussed. It is his batting that has let him down recently compared to his high standards earlier, but he's still competitive.
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