Adam Gilchrist picks MS Dhoni over himself as the best wicketkeeper in history

Former Australia wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist could not help but rate Indian legend MS Dhoni as the best wicketkeeper in cricket’s history. Gilchrist, who played, captained and won a title in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with the now-defunct Deccan Chargers, claimed that Dhoni is ‘even better’ than himself. 

The now 52-year-old, who has the best rate of dismissals per innings among wicketkeepers (300 dismissals) in all formats of the game, said that Dhoni is the best among all, including himself, because he won more titles than anybody on the list. Dhoni’s dismissals per innings rate in international cricket is 1.36, which is much lower than Gilchrist’s 1.86.

Playing the unique game ‘This or That’ on Cricket.com’s ‘Unwind’, the former Aussie gloveman was given two names, and he had to pick one. The one getting picked will then further be compared with another player, and the sequence will continue till all the names in the list end up, with the last player remaining being crowned the greatest of all time.

For Gilchrist, the battle to pick the greatest wicketkeeper started between Sri Lanka’s Romesh Kaluwitarna and Pakistan’s Moin Khan. Gilchrist picked Kaluwitarna. It continued with the Sri Lankan going on to beat Moin and England’s Matt Prior before losing to Zimbabwean great Andy Flower. 

The Zimbabwean, according to the 52-year-old Aussie, was better than South Africa’s Mark Boucher, who has the highest number of dismissals by any wicketkeeper in international cricket. Not only Boucher, Flower was rated better than Ian Healy of Australia and Jack Russell of England by the man with 905 dismissals across formats in international cricket.  

When it came down to choosing between Flower and Dhoni, Gilchrist went with the Indian, “Gun to hear head Gilly, MS Dhoni or you,” Gilchrist was asked on Cricket.com’s ‘Unwind’. 

The Australian said, “MS Dhoni, mate. MS Dhoni. [He]’s lifted every trophy there’s probably there to be lifted.” 

Among all the wicket-keepers with at least 100 dismissals in international cricket across formats, Dhoni has kept in the most number of innings (608) and has 829 scalps to his credit, third-most after Boucher and Gilchrist.

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