Indian wicket-keepers vs Pakistani wicket-keepers

[Chakarbakar]

Statistically speaking, India's top 5 Test keepers are - MSD (294), Syed Kirmani (198), Kiran More (130), Nayan Mongia (107) and Farokh Engineer (82)

Pakistan's top 5 Test keepers are - Wasim Bari (228), Kamral Akmal (206), Moin Khan (147), Rashid Latif (130) and Sarfraz Ahmed (115).

According to you, which bunch have been more impressive with their keeping skills? Or, if you have to pick just 3 keepers out of these 10 (solely on the basis of their keeping skills), which three names would you pick?

 

[Rayyman]

If we are talking about Tests, then Bangladesh's Mushfiqur Rahim is better than both India's Wriddhiman Saha and Pakistan's Sarfraz Ahmed.

 

[Rafay Shafiq]

In my view, wicket keeper should be judged on number of catches dropped rather taken. By stats kamran akmal looking one of Pakistan great wicket keeper.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

I am not a big fan of judging keepers only by their wicket keeping skills. May be it was true in 80s but I was not born then. In current time the last pure wicket keeper was Prasana Jayawrdene but SL moved on from him too.. These days a keepers batting is equally important as wicket-keeping.. All in all how much value a keepr brings to the side to help them winning matches.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

that said a keeper shouldnt be atrociously bad like Kamran Akmal.

 

[msb314]

I am not a big fan of judging keepers only by their wicket keeping skills. May be it was true in 80s but I was not born then. In current time the last pure wicket keeper was Prasana Jayawrdene but SL moved on from him too.. These days a keepers batting is equally important as wicket-keeping.. All in all how much value a keepr brings to the side to help them winning matches.

Adnan Akmal?

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Adnan Akmal?

Dont think he was that great a wicket keeper. Overrated by fans because the one before him (Kamran) was extremely poor. Mohammad Salman was better than Adnan if we consider keeping skills alone.

 

[idrizzy]

MSD is the best keeper from the list.

 

[ExplicitAI]

Dhoni is by far the best from the list but Sarfraz hasn't finished his career yet as he's still got plenty of years left in him so there's going to be more better things from him in the future inshallah.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Latif was the best keeper I have ever watched in my lifetime. Just imagine the variety of bowlers he had to kept wickets for.

 

[Coconut]

Dhoni is the greatest wicket keeper of all time.

 

[msb314]

Moin Khan was very good - one of the best Pakistani WK's I have seen.

 

[Justcrazy]

Only as WK , I would say Rashid latif was best.,

 

[Sachin136]

Dhoni and Healy are the best against spin ever. Overall, Dhoni, Kirmani and Bari are probably the best from that list.

 

[PakLFC]

Syed Kirmani of India I hear was a very good keeper, was a but of a maverick as well adding to his appeal. A very underrated wicket keeper as well. Even tried acting in one movie not getting very far with that. Then there was our Tasleem Arif scoring a double ton in one of the few test matches he played. Probably another wasted talent who we did not utilise to the fullest. We are experts at that.

 

[todfod 11]

Moin was the best of what I have seen.. i hardly remember him giving runs of byes

 

[mmkextreme_1]

Judging by keeping only, would have to go with Latif being the best keeper.

Best including batting, would have to go with Dhoni but I have a feeling Sarfarz will eventually overtake him. If he continues on batting the way he has. Needs to end his career with around 12-15 centuries and an average of around 42-45.

 

[moghul]

On pure wicket keeping skill, Bari has been the best from
Subcontinent.

 

[Suleiman]

All things aside Sarfraz is a blessing for us in tests and I guess ODIs too. God forbid if he is gone for some reason it'll pave the way for some seriously bad keepers like Adnan and others who can't score more than 20 runs to save their lives, and no proper captain to lead.

He came to prominence during a time where Adnan was first choice with legendary 20 batting average.

 

[PakLFC]

The worst I have ever seen was easily Kamran Akmal. Zulqarnain Haider in the one match I saw him appeared safe behind the stumps. All those allegations he made at the time ended what could have been a decent career. Overall Rashid Latif is the best Pak keeper I have seen with Kirmani who was before my times seemingly the finest Indian one. Out of the two Rashid was better in my opinion.

 

[IgnitedMind]

Nayan Mongia was a damn good keeper as well...dont remember him dropping any catches and he used to keep for Kumble in India along with other spinners like Raju, Hirwani, Chauhan etc...

 

[RickyG]

Dhoni is the best keeper I've seen against Spin. Against pacers, Rashid is probably the best. Some may say Bari but I have a personal preference for Rashid. He is probably the most athletic wicket keeper from the Subcontinent.

Dhoni underachieved as a batsman in test cricket but it'll be between him and Sarfraz for the best batting keeper.

Overall I would probably pick Rashid or Dhoni, unless Sarfraz can keep up his batting.

Moin Khan is the most overrated keeper on this list. Wasn't as good as people make him out to be with bat or the gloves. His batting record is inferior to Rashid in test cricket.

 

[todfod 11]

Nayan Mongia was a damn good keeper as well...dont remember him dropping any catches and he used to keep for Kumble in India along with other spinners like Raju, Hirwani, Chauhan etc...

he was nothing but a match fixer watch his videos online... Keepers like vijay dahiya and saba karim were far better then him

 

[big_gamer007]

Just keeping abilities or as a player? As a player no one comes remotely close to Dhoni especially in ODI's where he is arguably the GOAT..

 

[big_gamer007]

Nayan Mongia was a damn good keeper as well...dont remember him dropping any catches and he used to keep for Kumble in India along with other spinners like Raju, Hirwani, Chauhan etc...

Yea the times before Dhoni looks so grim now.. No wonder we were crap back then minus a few moments of glory..

 

[proud_pakistani]

Technically there is no keeper on that list more superior than Rashid Latif. He would rarely drop any catch and was very athletic and mobile and would take some really tough diving catches. Besides him I have heard Wasim Bari was a good keeper but I never saw him myself. Honourable mention for Moin but as a pure keeper Rashid was better but Moin was a very good batsman and had a better attitude than Rashid Latif which is why he played more games. Moin was not as agile as Rashid and would drop a catch every now and then but still was world class.

Mongia was another very good keeper and I would say almost at par with Rashid Latif. He had a tough contest with another decent keeper in Saba Karim but he did not play much. MS Dhoni was also a good keeper and rarely dropped catches but for some reason never felt him to be a natural keeper. Not as agile as Rashid or Mongia perhaps it is his built that isn't ideal for keeping.

If I had to rank as keepers (those I have seen):

1 - Rashid Latif
2 - Nayan Mongia
3 - Moin Khan
4 - MS Dhoni
5 - Sarfraz Ahmed
6 - Saba Karim
7 - Kamran Akmal

 

[Chakarbakar]

After watching Saha keep in this Test, I am convinced Saha has to be among the top three (though he has not been mentioned in the list).

 

[jeetu]

I never got the chance to see Wasim Bari but most i have heard skill wise he was nearly as good as Kirmani. Kirmani is by far best Wicket keeper India produced. Probably the most acrobatic WK is subcontinent history. More had similar ability but not as consistent as Kirmani. Mongia and Latif were very safe keeper. But lacked the X-factor of taking very difficult catches.

 

[Last Monetarist]

Apart from Dhoni, who played for the best part of a decade, I have never really hankered for the fantasy world in which Pakistan was allowed to select the Indian incumbent behind the stumps. And that includes the miserable time Moin Khan was fumbling straightforward catches for fun. Nonetheless, you can't ignore Dhoni who has been easily the most influential wicketkeeper to come out of the subcontinent over the last quarter of a century given that he has changed the playbook for stumpings.

 

[Chakarbakar]

I remember a bit of More. He was okayish. Never seemed very athletic. Was safe but no great shakes. Mongia looked a lot more assured. But neither of them would take such spectacular catches as Saha does. I haven't seen Kirmani. Looking for some of his videos but cannot find much.

 

[Chakarbakar]

I never got the chance to see Wasim Bari but most i have heard skill wise he was nearly as good as Kirmani. Kirmani is by far best Wicket keeper India produced. Probably the most acrobatic WK is subcontinent history. More had similar ability but not as consistent as Kirmani. Mongia and Latif were very safe keeper. But lacked the X-factor of taking very difficult catches.

I remember a bit of More. He was okayish. Never seemed very athletic. Was safe but no great shakes. Mongia looked a lot more assured. But neither of them would take such spectacular catches as Saha does. I haven't seen Kirmani. Looking for some of his videos but cannot find much.

 

[squarecut]

Syed Kirmani of India I hear was a very good keeper, was a but of a maverick as well adding to his appeal. A very underrated wicket keeper as well. Even tried acting in one movie not getting very far with that.

Kirmani in my opinion was the best ever Indian wicketkeeper that I have seen play on TV. Far better than Engineer (whom he replaced) and Kiran More (who replaced him).

 

[Slog]

Moin was the best of what I have seen.. i hardly remember him giving runs of byes

lolwut?

He was gutsy but made many mistakes. Obv not at level of Kamran;s howlers

 

[HitWicket]

If we are talking about Tests, then Bangladesh's Mushfiqur Rahim is better than both India's Wriddhiman Saha and Pakistan's Sarfraz Ahmed.

Assume you missed the part about keeping ability in the OP? Statistically Mushfiqur would be one of the worst keepers in the history of test cricket.

 

[todfod 11]

lolwut?

He was gutsy but made many mistakes. Obv not at level of Kamran;s howlers

May b I m wrong but of what I remember.. Moin was pretty good. Some of his catches and stops against shoaibs bowling were unbelievable..

 

[KhalidRafi]

All I know is that it has been a downhill slide for Pakistan since the departures of Moin Khan and Rashid Latif. Sarfraz is obviously an improvement, but he's a better batsman and captain than he is at keeping wickets. Regardless, he gets the job done and is better than all three Akmals.

India had a revolving door or keepers before Dhoni: Dravid, Partiv Patel, Karthik, Mongia...none of them were any good. But Dhoni was and is excellent and Saha is arguably the best pure-wicket-keeper in the world right now (definitely the best against spin).