File photo of Ravi Shastri
As India looked to bundle out Bangladesh’ batting unit early on Day 5 of the Kanpur Test, Mushfiqur Rahim stood between the hosts’ pursuit of quick wickets. The Bangladesh wicket-keeper batter used sweep shot as a weapon to counter the spin threat posed by India’s Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. Rahim did very well in facing India’s spin twins, prompting a discussion in the commentary box, involving Ravi Shastri and Atahr Ali Khan. When former Bangladesh cricketer, Athar Ali, highlighting Rahim’s proficiency in using sweep shots against spinners, Shastri asked him to name one wicket-keeper who doesn’t sweep, hoping his question would only be met with silence.
However, former India cricketer Murali Kartik, who was also in the commentary box with Shastri and Athar Ali, jumped into the conversation and answered Shastri’s question by mentioning MS Dhoni.
Athar Ali highlighted how Mushfiqur is a good example of how sweep shots can help batters nullify spin threats. This is when Shastri said, “Name me one keeper who doesn’t sweep.”
But, Kartik’s mention of Dhoni left Shastri stunned. As a matter of fact, Dhoni is a bottom-handed player who hardly tried to play sweep shots against spinners. Instead, he would use his feet to advance down the track in order to tackle tricky spinners.
Despite not possessing a weapon like a sweep shot in his armoury, Dhoni is widely seen as one of the finest batters against spinners.
Rahim was eventually dismissed by pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who delivered an off-cutter to uproot the Bangladesh wicket-keeper batter’s middle stump. In the process, Team India secured a 7-wicket victory against Bangladesh to clean sweep the series 2-0. India head earlier won the first Test by a whopping margin of 280 runs.
However, the win in the Kanpur Test was extra special considering the total play possible was less than 2 days.
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