3 Wicket-Keepers with ODI and Test Wickets as a Bowler

There is no doubt about the fact that wicket-keeping is one of the most difficult jobs in the cricketing field. It is obviously pretty taxing on a player to keep the whole day or full quota of overs in a limited overs format and still go out to bat in crunch situations of the match. The role of a wicket-keeper was just bound to keep wickets around 3 4 decades ago. However, with the emergence of some exceptional wicket-keeper batsmen like Adam Gilchrist, Kumar Sangakkara and MS Dhoni, the definition of a wicket-keeper has changed quite drastically.

Adam Gilchrist never bowled a single delivery during his international career. However in his last match in his IPL career, Gilchrist bowled for the very first time in his career and bagged a wicket in his only ball in competitive cricket. Even Mahendra Singh Dhoni has an ODI wicket. However, they haven’t been able to take wickets in both ODI and Test level. There are 3 wicket-keepers in the world who has achieved the feat of bagging a wicket as a bowler in both Test and ODI cricket.

Let us take a look at those 3 wicket-keepers

SHORTS

View More

Your daily dose of cricket!

Loading...

Tatenda Taibu

Without a doubt, Taibu is one of the finest cricketers from Zimbabwe. The little man was an all-rounder in every aspect. He was a full-time wicket-keeper. However, when required he also had the ability to roll over his arms. Taibu will always be remembered as the youngest Test captain in the history of the game. He was only 20 years and 358 days when Taibu led Zimbabwe in a Test match against Sri Lanka at Harare.

With his dibbly dobbly medium-pacers, Taibu bagged the wickets of Upul Tharanga and Thilina Kandamby in an ODI match against Sri Lanka. The match was held at the Harare Sports Club in Harare. He finished with impressive figures of 2/42.

Just a week after realizing his bowling potentials, Taibu bagged his maiden Test wicket. It was the prized scalp of Sanath Jayasuriya. It will definitely rank as one of the elite wickets of wicket-keepers with wickets behind their name. The match was held on 29^th April 2004. The pocket-sized dynamo represented Zimbabwe in 28 Tests and 150 ODI’s. He accumulated 1546 runs in his Test career whole 3393 runs in his ODI career.

AB de Villiers

Mr 360 is arguably the greatest batsman of the modern generation. His sudden retirement from international cricket has left everyone in shock and despair. He has redefined the game with his exceptional strokeplay. Despite his retirement from international cricket, he has given so much to cherish. He has a huge fan following in India and it goes on to prove the simplicity of a man.

De Villiers is the holder of the records for fastest 50, 100 and 150 in ODI cricket. However very few will know that he is one among those very wicket-keeper batsmen who bagged an ODI and Test wicket as a bowler during their career.

Mr 360 bagged the wicket of Tino Best and Darren Powell on April 9, 2005, in a Test match. He finished with figures of 2/49. De Villiers has also bagged 7 wickets in his ODI career. His figures of 2/15 against Ireland in the 2015 World Cup is his best figures in ODI cricket.

Rahul Dravid

Regarded as the ‘Wall’, Rahul Dravid is one of the finest batsmen of the late 20^th and the beginning of the 21^st century. He has innumerable match-winning knocks for India in both Test and ODI’s. Though his batting style was not suited for limited overs cricket, he was accommodated in the side as a wicket-keeper by the then Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly.

He wasn’t a first choice wicket-keeper and hardly kept wickets in Tests. However, he did keep wickets for a majority of his limited-overs career. However very few would know that Dravid has the rare feat of bagging a Test and an ODI wicket as a bowler. It was back in 1999 that Dravid bagged his maiden ODI wicket in the form of Saeed Anwar. He also bagged the wickets of Lance Klusner, Gary Kirsten and Shaun Pollock in ODI’s.

Dravid has a solitary Test wicket behind his name. He got rid of Ridley Jacobs, former Caribbean wicket-keeper in a Test match against the Windies on 10^th May 2002.