This is the last of these Wicket Keeper batters articles and one can say that I have saved the best for last as is usually the case. In this article we will talk about the 2 most influential wicket keeper batters of the modern era along with Adam Gilchrist. We are talking about MS Dhoni vs Kumar Sangakkara. This will be a very good stats Comparison and we will see who is the better one at the end of it.
Before we talk about these 2 greats, I want to thank these 2 for their years of service to cricket and now that they both are gone it makes us realize the importance of players that you sometimes can take for granted. We should treasure all the years we have with all our favorite players and enjoy while we can. Let’s look at their stats.
MS Dhoni
First we will talk about probably the most influential and famous wicket keeper of the past 30 years and he is the one who has made wicket keeping cool and so many young players want to become wicket keepers because of this man and that will be his legacy
Test Cricket
As we said in an earlier article that Test cricket was not his preferred format, yet he did very well in it and made India into a great test team. MS Dhoni played 90 Test Matches for India and in those Matches he made 4876 runs at an average of 38.09 and he made a lot of useful scores batting lower down the order. He has a highest score of 224. As a wicket keeper he took 256 catches and effected 38 Stumpings in test cricket.
ODI Cricket
The format that made him an all time legend. MS Dhoni played 350 ODIs and he amassed 10773 runs at a great average of 50.77 batting 5 or lower and he made 10 ODI hundreds with a highest score of 183. And as a wicket keeper he took 321 catches and did 123 Stumpings. A true cricket great.
Kumar Sangakkara
What do I say about this player, all I can say that he was a joy to watch live and I have been a big fan of his from the past decade and to see the level of consistency he had was remarkable. Sri Lanka cricket misses him greatly as they have not been able to find a replacement for him .
Test Cricket
Among all the players we talked about Kumar Sangakkara is head and shoulders the best batter in test cricket as he played 134 Test Matches and he scored 12400 runs which is a lot more than the second best. He has an average that was 57.40 and 38 Test hundreds which is more than the number of hundreds the other 3 have combined. As a wicket keeper he took 182 catches and did 20 Stunpings
ODI Cricket
The situation is the same in ODI Cricket as Kumar Sangakkara is the best batter among the 4 in ODIs as well as in the 404 matches he played he made 14234 runs at an average of 41.98 and he made almost 4000 runs more than the next best. As a wicket keeper he took 402 catches and had 99 Stumpings.
Stats Comparison
As a batter Kumar Sangakkara was ahead of MS Dhoni by 12000+ international runs and in both formats of the game. And as a wicketkeeper MS Dhoni was ahead in catches and Stumpings in test cricket whereas Kumar Sangakkara had more Catches in ODI Cricket but MS Dhoni had more Stunpings so the wicket keeper battle is a close one.
