“Don't ask me why!” - When MS Dhoni found keeping wickets to a part-timer tougher than Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh

Former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni earned recognition for his outstanding batting skills and exceptional wicketkeeping abilities. While he kept wickets for some of India's finest bowlers, early in his career, he mentioned that keeping to Virender Sehwag's bowling was more challenging than keeping to Anil Kumble or Harbhajan Singh.

In November 2005, before making his Test debut, Dhoni was asked in an interview with ESPNcricinfo whether it was difficult to keep to bowlers like Harbhajan on Indian pitches, to which he replied:

“Of course. Both Anil bhai [Kumble] and Harbhajan are a real challenge. But personally, I find keeping to Veeru [Sehwag] even more difficult. Don't ask me why! (smiles).”

Sehwag regularly bowled early in his career, particularly in ODIs. The Delhi-born cricketer took 96 wickets in 146 ODI innings and 40 wickets in 91 Test innings.

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MS Dhoni finished with the third-most dismissals by a wicketkeeper across all formats in his career

MS Dhoni ranked third on the list for the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper across all formats. The former India captain, who retired from Test cricket in 2014, recorded 256 catches and 38 stumpings. With the bat, he scored 4,876 runs in 90 Test matches at an average of 38.09, including 33 fifties and six hundreds.

The Jharkhand cricketer announced his retirement from international cricket on August 15, 2020. Dhoni enjoyed a stellar ODI career, leading India to victory in the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. He played 350 ODIs, accumulating 10,773 runs at an average of 50.57, with 73 fifties and 10 centuries. Behind the stumps, MS took 321 catches and made 123 stumpings.

In T20Is, MS Dhoni led India to victory in the inaugural 2007 T20 World Cup. Throughout his T20I career, he played 98 matches, scoring 1,617 runs, including two fifties. He also took 57 catches and made 34 stumpings.

Across all formats, Dhoni was involved in 829 dismissals as a wicketkeeper, the third-most in international cricket, behind Mark Boucher (998) and Adam Gilchrist (905).