MS Dhoni is yet to bat in IPL 2024, but he still has Chepauk and the cricketing world on its feet. How? By taking one of the the most athletic catches one day you will see a 42 year old man. During Super Kings of ChennaiDuring the IPL match against Gujarat Titans in Chennai, Dhoni leapt 2.7 meters to his right to pull off a superb one-handed dive to dismiss Vijay Shankar. It’s been almost a good 24 hours since that spectacular catch by Dhoni but some former cricketers are yet to get over it.
Former Indian cricketer Parthiv Patelshared some insights on the work MSD is doing in its wicketkeeping and said the catch was a throwback to the good old days when a young Dhoni threw himself around and accepted such screams more often. When Dhoni ensured that his keeping skills were not the sharpest, but after covering difficult pitches like only MSD could, his gloves became sharp, impeccable and came of age.
“I have never seen him practice wicketkeeping. The only important thing we can see here is the distance he has covered. Many wicketkeepers have an initial movement where they usually move towards the side of leg, but MS Dhoni consistently dives in the same direction and can cover two meters distance. It looked like we were looking at a 22-year-old Dhoni again,” Parthiv, the former Indian keeper, said on Match Center Live from Jio Cinema.
“You have to praise him. A lot of young wicketkeepers should learn this technical point. When you use one leg to move to the leg side, you can’t cover the distance in the offside. Dhoni’s anticipation is always correct, allowing him to cover the distance well, and very rarely do we see that he has to dive to get the ball, because his anticipation is so good and he covers the distance.
‘I swear Dhoni isn’t finished,’ says Abhinav Mukund
Abhinav Mukund is another former Indian cricketer who couldn’t keep calm seeing Dhoni jumping like a ‘lion’. Although nothing is confirmed yet, IPL2024 is probably Dhoni’s swan song, more so with the whole captaincy change and everything, but going by how MSD is up there as far as fitness and taking such catches goes, Mukund, who made his debut under Dhoni, feels that it is not.
“The Chepauk crowd on its feet. A flying tiger, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. A 42-year-old leaping like a lion to take a brilliant catch, MS Dhoni! Mitchell made the breakthrough; Vijay Shankar is now out. MSD ka Hukum. I swear “He’s not finished yet. It’s MS Dhoni, don’t mess with him. What a diving catch! They just got to Daryl Mitchell, and it was a slight edge and a wonderful catch,” he said while making comments as Dhoni completed the catch in less than a second – 0.6 to be precise.