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India’s former fielding coach R Sridhar recently revealed that Dhoni had quit wicketkeeping practice after playing 8-9 years in international cricket. Still, his stumping and catching speed surprised everyone.
“No practice, still number 1” What is the whole matter?
Dhoni is considered to be the smartest and fastest wicketkeeper in cricket history. His 829 international catches, including 634 catches and a record 195 stumpings, are proof of this.
The surprising thing is that Dhoni did all this without regular practice!
Sridhar told, “MS Dhoni didn’t do keeping practice after eight or nine years of international cricket. When he was growing up, and before he established himself, say before 2007 or 2005, he worked a lot on his keeping skills. His technique was very good; he had his own technique. I wouldn’t call it unorthodox, but very effective.”
Why did Dhoni quit practice?
The workload of playing all three formats was so much that his fingers would get tired. Still, he was lightning fast behind the stumps.
Sridhar revealed, “He admitted himself that once he started playing all three formats for India, the workload was so high that he didn’t need to practice more because his fingers were feeling the strain from catching, throwing, and everything else behind the stumps.”
Instead of practice, Dhoni focused on small reaction drills. These kept his reflexes sharp and the speed of the glove maintained.
Sridhar said, “That’s when he very smartly cut down his workload as a keeper. Instead, he did some small reaction drills, which kept him sharp and his glove speed lightning fast.”
Even today, at the age of 44, Dhoni is performing brilliantly for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
In IPL 2025, he made a splash with 6 catches and 5 stumpings!