The IPL is one of the biggest cricket tournaments globally, and it has been going on for a long time. While it is more about the batsmen hitting the ball out of the ground, wicket keepers do have a significant role to play. We have seen so many talented wicketkeepers play in this tournament over the years. They have amazed us with their excellent agility, presence of mind, and wittiness to dismiss the batsmen and save runs. From great catches to flash stumpings, quick runouts, and more, wicket keepers are a vital entity in any team, helping their teams to remain competitive in the IPL points table.
With that said, we will look at the greatest dismissals by a wicketkeeper in IPL history –
MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni is the wicketkeeper with the most dismissals in IPL history. He has 45 dismissals, which translates to an average of about two per game. In terms of the percentage of a total number of innings played as a keeper, MS Dhoni also leads this list at around 87%. His best performance came against Kolkata Knight Riders when he had six catches and three stumpings in an innings. He also holds the record for the highest dismissal totals by any player in both Tests (54) and ODIs (188). Dhoni is known for his lightning fast stumping. In fact, he holds the record for the fastest stumping in the world, which is 0.08 seconds. That’s faster than flash. His lighting speed behind the stumps forces batsmen to play inside the crease and don’t do anything silly. While he has grown older, his keeping agility and skills remain the same.
As captain, he won all 21 matches that India participated in since 2008 until his leadership – 17 ODI wins out of 19 games and four Test victories from five Tests.
Robin Uthappa
Robin Uthappa is another successful wicketkeeper in IPL history. He has taken a total of 198 catches and effected 14 stumpings. With 114 dismissals in 205 games to date for a success rate of 58%, he holds the record for the highest number of catches by any keeper since 2010. What’s more impressive about his performances with gloves is that he doesn’t just take them from close range but routinely dives full-length to pouch difficult chances of spinners such as Sunil Narine’s dusra or Kuldeep Yadav’s leg-break delivery, which was often seen turning viciously away from batmen. Robin Uthappa can be framed as an ‘accidental keeper’ as he’s a proper batsman. However, over the years, keeping for KKR has proven that he has everything it takes to be included in this list.
His extraordinary reflexes and athleticism have come as a blessing for his team Kolkata Knight Riders, who relied on his time and again to steady their innings, especially during run chases while chasing big totals.
Wriddhiman Saha
Wriddhiman Saha is an Indian wicket-keeper who plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. He started his IPL career with Kolkata Knight Riders but moved on to play for Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab before he was picked by Hyderabad. Saha had his first brush with fame when he dismissed Michael Hussey off Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling in his final appearance before retirement during Australia’s tour of India in late 2013/early 2014.
As it turned out, this wasn’t just any dismissal – it went down as one of those rare instances where a keeper took all ten wickets—with figures reading: 0 runs off 13 balls faced; 0x0 strike rate. Saha’s maiden IPL century came against the Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur on April 17, 2015—a tie in a memorable contest where Saha scored 105 not out off 63 balls with five fours and three sixes. The innings also saw him end up as one of only two players to score more than 1000 runs that season by scoring 1032 runs from 84 games, alongside Sunil Narine, who had 1014 runs from 86 matches.
Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik is the captain and wicketkeeper for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL. He has played there since 2012 and holds records for most dismissals by a wicketkeeper in the history of IPL, including stumpings and catches taken off clean bowled balls (no ground involved). Dinesh’s record speaks to his ability as an agile catcher behind the stumps combined with his daring acrobatic fielding skills resulting from being one of India’s best wicket keeping-batsman.
This season, he finished second only behind Virat Kohli, who had five innings where he affected a runout. The past year was an important milestone for him as not only did he take over 100 dismissals, but he became captain of Kolkata Knight Riders after Gautam Gambhir was dropped from the team.
Parthiv Patel
In the history of IPL, many wicket keepers were outstanding with their gloves and bat. And one of them is Parthiv Patel. He is probably the most experienced wicketkeeper in the country. He started playing international cricket when he was only 18. He was signed by Mumbai Indians in 2009. His first game for his new team was on 16th April 2010. He scored a quickfire 30 off just 18 balls, including six fours. He has played a total of 139 matches in the IPL, taking 69 catches, 16 stumpings, and 10 run outs. His stats are just amazing and inspiring for an aspiring wicket keeper.
The bottom line is that if you’re looking for the cricket tips and most dismissals by a wicketkeeper in IPL history, then this list will have them. It’s worth noting not only are these players some of the best cricketers to ever play for their country – but they also happen to be among the greatest wicket keepers as well.
