‘He’s an absolute masterclass behind the stumps, it’s natural talent’: Stephen Fleming on MS Dhoni’s wicket-keeping

Dhoni on Friday took a superb catch off Maheesh Theekshana’s bowling to get rid of SRH captain Aiden Markram.

He then accomplished that feat, making him the T20 keeper with the most catches. In the game, the 41-year-old caught his 208th T20 ball, surpassing South Africa’s Quinton de Kock, who had previously recorded 207 catches.

“It’s natural talent. I don’t think he gets enough credit for his keeping but to be honest he is absolute craftsman, absolute masterclass behind the stumps and often goes unnoticed with all the things he does,” Fleming said during the post-match conference.

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Speaking on Devon Conway’s form in the tournament, Fleming said that he feels that he’s out of form but his knocks are panning out really well for the team.

“Conway’s batting is what we expect. He thinks that he is out of form but he keeps tuning out runs. Today his fifty was an absolute clinic to watch. He’s really skillful and the other thing is that he’s in a good spot and it’s the combination with Ruturaj,” he said.

“We aren’t overly comfortable with the home conditions, keeping in mind we haven’t played here for a few years. Things have changed and we are trying to learn as much as we can.”

Speaking about Sri Lankan all-rounder Mahees Theekshana, the coach said, “Theekshana is skillful and subtle as a player. He is always coming at a player so he can’t get the rhythm as a hitter. His distinction is change of pace.”

“He’s bowling well. But the first couple of outings, he was trying to find his pace. It was a good day for him and a bit of learning for us,” he added.

When quizzed about the batter’s strike-rate, the 50-year old said, “We don’t talk about strike rate. We don’t wanna put extra pressure on the players to score 200. We are just very positive and backing our players.”

Fleming also provided an update on England all-rounder Ben Stokes and said that the latter will be away for a few more days.

“He had another little sit back yesterday so he will probably be a few days or a week away, This is a challenge but the team is playing well. The first thing is him being fit and then if we have a headache around selection, the nature of the IPL is that things happen. Our priority is to get him fit. At the moment, he’s not quite ready, But as soon as he is, we’ll worry about the next part,” he said.