Ravichandran Ashwin has picked his favourite wicketkeeper, and there are no prizes for guessing that it’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Former India off-spinner Ashwin has said that Dhoni’s wicketkeeping, especially to spinners, is the finest that he has witnessed.

“His glove work has always amazed me. People talk a lot about his captaincy, and rightly so, the titles speak for themselves,” Ashwin said on JioStar’s ‘The Ravichandran Ashwin Experience’.

“But for me, two things stand out — one, how good a middle-order batter he was, someone who could take the game deep and finish it.

“And the second is his keeping against spinners. I haven’t seen anyone else like him.”

Ashwin and Dhoni have been long-time teammates in the Indian side, and then at the Chennai Super Kings.

Ashwin also highlighted Dhoni’s practice of giving the bowlers the charge of their preferred field placements.

“He never set the field for me. I would set my own field, and he would just say, ‘Don’t double-guess. Don’t pre-empt. If you get hit, it’s fine. If someone takes a risk, let it be. Just bowl to your field.’ He trusted that,” Ashwin recollected.

The veteran off-spinner fondly remembered dismissing Chris Gayle for a three-ball duck in the 2011 IPL final, crediting Dhoni for a sharp take behind the stumps.

“You can talk about the setup and the dismissal, but how well MS took that catch! It wasn’t easy.”

As a player, Ashwin played for five IPL franchises in his long career and was also the captain of the Rajasthan Royals. He, however, regrets not winning a trophy with the Royals.

“I spent three years there (Royals), and that stint helped me make a comeback to the Indian team. The way RR utilised me was first-class, and I enjoyed my cricket there like nowhere else. My only small regret is that I couldn’t win a title with RR… That was one small regret.”

Ashwin, however, didn’t enjoy his stint with the Punjab Kings. “I have a slight feeling that I couldn’t make that team my own.”