How come this bloke never got a test for India ?

[Salamuddin]

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/28067.html

I mean his first class record is so superior to Karthik, Dhoni, Parthiv and the other guys that have constituited the Indian wicketkeeping merry go around.....that its not even funny

Maybe he may not have been test class but there's only one way to find out......
And he can't have been that bad a player if he could crack 130 no against McGrath, Fleming and Reiffel a year after the trio had bowled Australlia to victory in the Caribbean....
Someone iof the guys who kept wicket for India in tests over the last 10 years e.g Dasgupta, Ratra wouldn't vene have been able to pass 20.


http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1996-97/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_IND-BPRES-XI_05-07OCT1996.html

His List A record is pretty good as well.......just amazed that all he ever got was measly ODI at the fag end of the innings.
An Indian Punjabi friend of mine told me about him....says he's the unluckiest player in the history of Indian cricket.....

 

[Richard]

Maybe he played for a state that only had 1 selector on the panel and maybe he upset him 2 days before his only selection meeting...

 

[adharcric]

From what I've heard, he's poor behind the stumps. Of course, politics played a part but only the selectors know the details of that.

 

[Richard]

A rich man's Dasgupta?

 

[JaiMurugan]

From what I've heard, he's poor behind the stumps. Of course, politics played a part but only the selectors know the details of that.

That's not true......Dharmani is a competent wicket keeper, maybe not brilliant but he's decent....certainly not poor in standard.

 

[Richard]

That was reminiscent of myself in time between registering and starting to post in anger!

 

[Barney Rubble]

Dharmani = ICC2001 legend.

 

[Richard]

Blackburn Rovers = legends on some footy game for the 1995\96 season...

 

[vic_orthdox]

Dharmani = ICC2001 legend.

Also a gun in the Original ICC.

 

[dass]

well life just sucks for some people because they are never given chances to prove themselves.

 

[Perm]

Selectors obviously didn't think he was good enough.

 

[adharcric]

That's not true......Dharmani is a competent wicket keeper, maybe not brilliant but he's decent....certainly not poor in standard.

That explains why he's been playing for Punjab as a specialist batsman in recent times.
I haven't seen him keep so I won't make a sweeping claim. Have you seen him keep at a competitive level?

 

[Craig]

Geeze he is a bit stiff not to get a run.

Bit of a hard question but was he ever picked for any tour parties when they toured places like SA or England for example?

 

[Arjun]

Pankaj Dharmani? He's played half his matches as a specialist batsman, even now. That makes him a risky choice behind the stumps. We've seen a major grey area behind the stumps for the Indian team ever since this mad search for a wicketkeeper-batsman. As seen with Rahul Dravid, the better the contender with the bat, the worse behind the stumps. I have seen him in action a few times (Challenger and Irani) behind the stumps, and though he's safe, he hardly moved. He's still a better option than Bisla and Rawat, both opening batsmen turned wicketkeepers.

As a batsman, he's very much in the Alec Stewart or Rahul Dravid mould. He's often played long innings for stability and building partnerships. He is also capable of playing more than a few strokes on his day, but he's not an out-and-out big hitter that wicketkeeper-batsmen should be. His running between the wickets is also not known well, though in his only ODI, he tried to run off every ball. In fact, when Nayan Mongia was still considered the best choice for a wicketkeeper, he was initially picked as a specialist batsman!

 

[honestbharani]

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/28067.html

I mean his first class record is so superior to Karthik, Dhoni, Parthiv and the other guys that have constituited the Indian wicketkeeping merry go around.....that its not even funny

Maybe he may not have been test class but there's only one way to find out......
And he can't have been that bad a player if he could crack 130 no against McGrath, Fleming and Reiffel a year after the trio had bowled Australlia to victory in the Caribbean....
Someone iof the guys who kept wicket for India in tests over the last 10 years e.g Dasgupta, Ratra wouldn't vene have been able to pass 20.


http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1996-97/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_IND-BPRES-XI_05-07OCT1996.html

His List A record is pretty good as well.......just amazed that all he ever got was measly ODI at the fag end of the innings.
An Indian Punjabi friend of mine told me about him....says he's the unluckiest player in the history of Indian cricket.....

Well, it was a time when Nayan Mongia was our test keeper and given the fact that he was pretty exceptional to our spinners (read, Kumble), we never had to look at another option for a keeper. And in any case, Dharmani's real worth was in front of the stumps than behind.


But personally, I have always felt that he deserved a ODI shot around 98/99... I distinctly remember Harsha Bhogle once writing a piece just before the 99 WC about how Sachin, Sourav and Rahul should form the top 3 and take care of the first 15-25 overs and that Azhar, Robin and Jadeja can bat the last 15-20 overs, since they are not comfortable against the moving ball, which is how it is in England at that time.

He talked about Mongia at 4 and I told my cousins "Not him. It should be Dharmani there. He has a more than decent technique, can score at a brisk pace without having to take risks and look like getting out. Good between the wickets, decent keeper. Can go on to 100s as well." A real missed opportunity for India, IMHO.

 

[adharcric]

I'd have to agree. Given that the likes of Dasgupta, Dahiya, Parthiv and Prasad were given a run, someone of Dharmani's caliber definitely deserved one.
Hell, with that first-class average maybe he should've been in contention as a specialist batsman.

 

[silentstriker]

Unfortunately, a lot of times in the selector's minds the U-19 performances count for more than FC cricket. Quite the opposite in most other Test nations.

 

[V Reddy]

From what I've heard, he's poor behind the stumps.

I have seen him keep and he's a good keeper. May not be exceptional but gets the job done say in the mould of Dighe & Karim, even against the spinners like Sarandeep Singh(Was playing for Punjab at that time when i saw him play).

He was selected for the SAF tour & scored a 50 in the only inning he played in a side game and was dropped never to be picked again. Those were the times of regional bias and when influence mattered more than anything else. Even Noel David, who struggled to make it to state side with Raju & Kanwaljeet Singh ahead of him, made it to the Indian side through his contacts, though to his credit he performed admirably in WI.

He isn't keeping regularly nowadays is to probably give the young guns a go as he probably realises that he doesn't have a future in Intl Cricket anymore.

 

[The Baconator]

Does seem a bit odd, especially considering some of the other fairly average keepers that we saw. Pitt and McNamara right though, dead set gun on ICC.

 

[Arjun]

He was selected for the SAF tour & scored a 50 in the only inning he played in a side game and was dropped never to be picked again. Those were the times of regional bias and when influence mattered more than anything else. Even Noel David, who struggled to make it to state side with Raju & Kanwaljeet Singh ahead of him, made it to the Indian side through his contacts, though to his credit he performed admirably in WI.

Oh brother...MSK Prasad comes to mind. He wasn't too bad, but Dharmani could have done a lot better.

Anyway, I'm not too sure Kumble would be too pleased with Dharmani behind the stumps. He had no confidence in any wicketkeeper other than Mongia, which was a concern.