Dhoni v Gilchrist

[Burgey]

IPL more important than international T20s

Just no

 

[GIMH]

I think Gilchrist is sometimes underrated as a keeper, because he basically ushered in the era of stumpwork being the secondary discipline.

I find it hard to compare them on captaincy because Gilly never got a proper crack at the job. As batsmen in Tests it is obviously not remotely close. Both guns in ODIs though entirely different players in that format. T20 not worth comparing as it only came in during Gilchrist’s twilight.

I would personally go Gilchrist every time because I feel like the areas I give Dhoni the edge are really unknowns.

 

[Shri]

I completely disagree that Dhoni was a better keeper against spin too.

kept to murali for years without drama

and played him pretty well as a bat

if gilly couldn't pick murali's variations as an opposition batsman, he'd have sucked as a keeper

 

[honestbharani]

27 @140 in the earliest seasons of the ipl was garbage??? Must also be noted that in his first 2 season's he averaged 33 @145 with a ton and 6 50's and nearly 1000 runs. His last 4 seasons where suspect, but he was like 39 at that point. God knows how much he would have done if he played in at his peak instead of at the shadow end of his career at age 36+.

I did not realize we were dabbling in IFs and BUTs... International T20s were around far longer and he was not good at those either. The question is to consider all 3 formats and I did.

 

[sunilz]

kept to murali for years without drama

and played him pretty well as a bat

if gilly couldn't pick murali's variations as an opposition batsman, he'd have sucked as a keeper

Gilchrist has excellent record vs SL. Am I missing something?

 

[Shri]

Gilchrist has excellent record vs SL. Am I missing something?

yeah shut up ?

 

[honestbharani]

Lol the Platinum Lounge gets it right yet again.

So that's where you get to..

 

[TheJediBrah]

I did not realize we were dabbling in IFs and BUTs... International T20s were around far longer and he was not good at those either.

Rubbish. He played a handful of games over a few years at the end of his career. And they were mostly one-off games. This is not a factor.

 

[Migara]

Gilchrist has excellent record vs SL. Am I missing something?

Still he struggled against Murali. That century was scored on one of the fastest tracks ever put by SL against a touring team. IIRC Vaas ran through Aussies in the first innings. Ponting scored a master stroke by sending him at #3 to face pace. Tillekaratne shelled the chance by not bringing in Murali. Gilly scored a century, and next day when he started against Murali (before getting his eye in), duely done by a doosra. That 2003-4 side was one of the strongest ever SL sides to play, but was led by a very poor captain. No wonder 3-0 for Aussies. With far inferior side SL whitewashed Aussies few years later.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Gilchrist averaged 52 in both ODIs & Tests against SL when Murali was playing. I saw most of those games on live TV and he played Murali very well, better than most.

Still he struggled against Murali. That century was scored on one of the fastest tracks ever put by SL against a touring team. IIRC Vaas ran through Aussies in the first innings. Ponting scored a master stroke by sending him at #3 to face pace. Tillekaratne shelled the chance by not bringing in Murali. Gilly scored a century, and next day when he started against Murali (before getting his eye in), duely done by a doosra. That 2003-4 side was one of the strongest ever SL sides to play, but was led by a very poor captain. No wonder 3-0 for Aussies. With far inferior side SL whitewashed Aussies few years later.

A few years later? As in 12 years later with 2 completely different sides? ok?

 

[vcs]

There is a big gap between Gilchrist and Dhoni as Test batsmen which the other formats, captaincy etc don't compensate. Dhoni wasn't a great Test captain anyway. Gilchrist was also a better Test keeper.

Gilchrist was prone to early dismissals when facing spin in Asia, very rocks and diamonds. Still he made a few high impact centuries. But with Dhoni outside Asia, the best you could expect was the occasional gritty 50 with the tail.

 

[harsh.ag]

Gilly was a better test captain too.

 

[The Sean]

Gilly, because I care far more about winning Tests than ODIs.

And if neither of them even bothered showing up for the T20s I'd be fine with that.

 

[subshakerz]

Shocked by those putting Dhoni ahead of Gilchrist as a keeper. There is more to keeping than stumpings, you know?

What made Gilchrist so unique was that he was worldclass as both a keeper and a bat at the same time. Very agile and very safe.

Also wouldnt underestimate him as a bat in ODIs, had a totally different role as an opener blaster and did that spectularly.

In tests Gilly easily. ODIs, Dhoni slightly, mainly due to captaincy. Overall, Gilly solidly.

 

[Flem274*]

If Gilchrist was anything less than a good keeper he'd have been benched. That team didn't need his batting, though they sure got h4x from it.

 

[sunilz]

If Gilchrist was anything less than a good keeper he'd have been benched. That team didn't need his batting, though they sure got h4x from it.

They definitely needed his batting in Asia. B-G trophy would have ended 3-0 in India's favour in 2001 if not for Gilchrist knock at Mumbai. Similarly he played 2 very good knock in 2004 in SL and IND respectively in 2004 both resulting in Aus victory .

 

[honestbharani]

GIlly is what made them an ATG side IMO. It is debatable whether they were better than 80s Windies as its so hard to compare across eras but they are up there as one of the top two teams to ever play test cricket when we have had more than 5 test playing nations and one of the biggest factors in that was Gilly.

 

[TheJediBrah]

If Gilchrist was anything less than a good keeper he'd have been benched.

No he wouldn't. He would have just played as a batsman and Haddin would have kept, weakening the side slightly. He was always one of the top 2 or 3 batsmen in the country even without the keeping.

 

[vcs]

Gilchrist averaged 30 in his last 28 Tests (reasonable but a bit below par for a keeper batsman). In his first 68 Tests he averaged 55.65 with 15 hundreds and 20 fifties. Probably batted up the order for some matches but that's insane output.

 

[vcs]

As opposition team you knew you were ****ed when you saw him striding in at 280/5 or whatever twirling his bat.