Dhoni is India's Gilchrist? No way!

When my roommate and I were returning back home yesterday night after watching Dhoni's blitzkrieg (actually, we pretty much missed out on most of it as we had gone out for dinner assuming that the middle overs would be boring as usual!), my roomie remarked that soon people are going to be comparing Dhoni with Gilchrist. But, having seen the complete lack of control he showed and the faulty technique he possessed, I managed to convince him that that would be a bit too far-fetched. On my part, I suggested that it is going to be interesting to see whether Karthick is going to retain his place in the Test side now.

And, lo and behold, both theories were suggested in one of CricInfo's column today! It just goes to show the stereotypical writing shown by sports journalists and reporters today. Anyone who saw Dhoni bat yesterday could clearly see that he could not be labelled a "top-order batsman". Comparing him with Gilchrist, who will surely be remembered as one of the greatest keeper-batsmen of all time, is heresy! Who knows, they might soon compare Zaheer Khan with Flintoff just because he managed to hit a few sixes at the end off the hapless Pakistani spinners :P

The best instance I remember in recent times of steoretypical journalism was before the Asia Cup, when it was widely reported that Sehwag had claimed that he could score a double century in a ODI. As it turned out, the true sequence of events was that some reporter asked him if he thinks he could score a double century in a ODI and he said "yes, he thinks he could"! What else do you expect him to say! The media promptly reports this as though Sehwag came out and declared that he wanted to score a double century.

Anyway, let's see how Dhoni's fate will unfold in the next ODI.

Cheers,
Harsha