Do you really think Dhoni is a better WK batsman than Gilchrist?
there are 3 parts to this
1. wkt keeping(both tests & onedayers combined)
Here we cannot judge as to who was better of the 2 based on the no: of dismissals alone because a keeper
can take a catch or have a stumping which comes across his way only. For instance,take Alan knott.His
dismissals/test ratio is lower than several keepers,yet he is widely regarded as one of the top
wicket keepers of all time.So Healy,Dujon,Kirmani,Bari,Rod Marsh,Knott,Dhoni,Gilchrist,Boucher
and several others were all caliber keepers of all time in that it is really difficlut to rank them
based on their no: ofdismissals alone.Any way it is only justifiable to assume that only marginal
differences in calibre exists in one to one comparison between any two of these keepers.
2.test batting - here Gichrist was so superior to Dhoni.a bat avg: of almost 48 + str: rate of 82
in 96 tests makes him vastly superior.He has played many impact knocks in several countries too.
Despite all the positives he enjoyed as being part of an ATG team his batting record is still phenomenal.
The undisputed best among specialist test wicket keepers.But Dhoni with 38 bat avg: is good in his own
self.Despite this being in todays batting friendly conditions, i would say that his batting performance
eclipses that of several greats like Healy,Boucher,Knott,Bari,Kirmani etc.More over Dhoni was no bad in non
subcontinental conditions either as a lot of posters claim here.Dhoni the test batsman cannot be judged
from the point of view of a specialist batsman.So it is unfair to expect many test 100s from him outside
the subcontiment.unless the player is a certain Gilchrist, there are not many keepers with that much 100s
in alien conditions.Based on that, if we go thru Dhoni 'about 70'knocks out side subcontinent there are
several quality knocks he has played.His 'about 70' + '55+ & not out' comes to around 15 in number.So
all in all Dhoni has a very good track record as far as test batting is concerned.Only Gilly, Prior,
A.Flower,Brendon Mcullum were better test batsmen than Dhoni for me.Infact if i missed out some names,
i am sure those names are only a handful.
3.One daybatting - Dhoni far ahead of any other batsman including Gilly. Gilly too was very good with
some memorable knocks,but Dhoni 52 avg:, 90 str:rate, several match finishing knocks especially in 2nd inns,
his brilliant captaincy to lead India to several cup titles all make him the undisputed best in one dayers
among wicket kepeers.
So all in all Gilchrist the best wicket keeper batsman of all time for me. Dhoni closely follows him.Both
are ATG cricketers too.In a deeper analyses,There may be some other ATG candidates wicket keepers too.