Mominul, Tamim better review-takers than Dhoni, reveals study
The much-maligned Mominul Haque, former Bangladesh Test captain, is the fifth-most successful review-taker. Mominul got almost half of his DRS calls right as a captain, despite a lot having a common perception that he is not a great review-taker. Tamim Iqbal's success rate is also above average (in the mid-40s).
A stat popped up in the television screen in late April suggesting that MS Dhoni had a success rate of 85.7% for Chennai Super Kings in DRS (Decision Review System) in the 2023 IPL. DRS is fondly called "Dhoni Review System", a term popularised by Indian cricket fans because of Dhoni's astute observation when it comes to cricket.
When he made an error last week, it raised a lot of eyebrows which included those of TV commentator Sunil Gavaskar. So is Dhoni the most successful captain when it comes to taking reviews? Let's find out.
Abhishek Mukherjee, head of content of Wisden India, in a piece discussed DRS success rate of captains with the help of data from CricViz database.
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"The database includes 112 captains who have reviewed at least once – one must remember here that even in 2023, DRS is not used in every recorded match – with an overall success rate of 40 percent," the piece read.
The CricViz database reveals that the most successful review-taking captain in matches where DRS have been used is South Africa's Faf du Plessis with a success rate of 57%. He is on top of the list of captains who went upstairs at least 20 times.
Dhoni is the 17th name in the list with a success rate of 41% (nine out of 22) which is pretty much average.
But there is a surprise in the top five. The much-maligned Mominul Haque, former Bangladesh Test captain, is the fifth-most successful review-taker. Mominul got almost half of his DRS calls right as a captain, despite a lot having a common perception that he is not a great review-taker. Tamim Iqbal's success rate is also above average (in the mid-40s).
Three Indian captains - KL Rahul, Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli - are ahead of Dhoni in the list although two of them don't captain anymore. Rahane, interestingly, is Dhoni's teammate at Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. Ben Stokes, another teammate of Dhoni, is more successful than him as well.
India's all-format captain Rohit Sharma and his Pakistan counterpart Babar Azam are well behind Dhoni though.
Another interesting fact is that Bangladesh's Test and T20I skipper Shakib Al Hasan, known to be another brilliant observer, doesn't have great DRS numbers, compared to other international captains. Among captains with at least 20 DRS calls, Shakib is currently the international skipper with lowest DRS success rate. India's Hardik Pandya, Pakistan's quartet of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan and the West Indies' Nicholas Pooran have lower success rates but none of them is a regular international captain.
When it comes to wicketkeeper-captains only, Dhoni is the third-most successful Indian in the list with Rishabh Pant (60%) leading the way (minimum 15 reviews). KL Rahul as keeper also has a better record.
