"He very smartly decreased the workload" - Ex-India fielding coach makes massive revelation on MS Dhoni

Former India fielding coach R Sridhar claimed that MS Dhoni stopped practicing wicketkeeping only eight or nine years after he began playing for India. He said that the 44-year-old put in a lot of hours working on his wicketkeeping in the early stages of his career.

He admitted that once he reduced his focus on wicketkeeping practice, he opted for reaction drills which kept him sharp. Sridhar also praised Dhoni's wicketkeeping technique, calling it effective. He told cricket.com:

“MS Dhoni did not practice wicketkeeping after playing eight or nine years of international cricket. While he was growing up, and while he was yet to make a mark in international cricket, let’s say before 2007, before 2005, he worked a lot on his wicketkeeping skills. He had a very good technique; he had a technique of his own. I wouldn’t call it unorthodox but very effective.

"He had practiced a lot, and he self-admittedly said that once he started playing three formats for India, the workload was so much that there was no need for him to practice more because his fingers were taking a beating, collecting those deliveries behind the stumps and throws, and everything else. That is when he very smartly decreased the workload as a wicketkeeper. Instead, he did some small reaction drills which kept him sharp and his gloves lightning fast.”

During the course of his almost 15-year long international career, MS Dhoni gained a reputation for being unorthodox behind the stumps. Some of his mannerisms, such as lifting his right feet parallely to the ground to stop the ball that was cut by a batter, made him different to any other gloveman in the game.

R Sridhar calls Wriddhiman Saha as the best wicketkeeper he had seen from close quarters

During his stint as the fielding coach of the Indian side, R Sridhar had the chance to work with both Wriddhiman Saha and MS Dhoni. He said that the former was the best wicketkeeper he had seen from close quarters. Sridhar said about Saha:

“Right up there. I would say he’s one of the best wicketkeepers I have personally spent time with and worked with. Very coachable, knows what he wants to work on. Great pair of gloves. Terrific person to have in the team. Great team man and all that apart, the commitment he brought as a wicketkeeper to the team.

"He was not the best of chirpers; he just stood silently behind the stumps, but the confidence he gave to the captain and the bowlers that ‘Saha is there behind the stumps’ was enormous. I have not seen him drop much, to be very honest, or miss much. He’ll be in my top two, if not top. I’ll always say he’s the best wicketkeeper I have seen from close quarters. Wriddhiman Saha as a wicketkeeper alone, top, number one”.

Saha played 40 Test matches for India from 2010 to 2021 and took 92 catches and effected 12 stumpings behind the wickets.