Four International Bowlers Who Have More Wickets Than Runs In Test Cricket

Cricket is a funny old sport, where all the eleven players are expected to contribute with both the bat and ball. Lower order batsmen are mostly bowlers, who are expected to chip in with some crucial runs when the situation demands.

Similarly, when the lead bowlers fail to provide a breakthrough for the team, sometimes the captains tend to go to orthodox batsmen for help. Then, some international bowlers are really exceptional in their art but are rarely able to have any sort of impact on the game with their batting skills.

Indeed, there have been some bowlers in the illustrious history of the gentleman’s game, who scored fewer runs than the number of wickets they scalped.

Today, we will be listing down four such international bowlers who took a minimum of 100 wickets in Test cricket but scored fewer runs than the wickets they snared.

Four International Cricketers With More Wickets Than Runs In Test Cricket:

4) Bruce Reid

Former Australian cricketer Bruce Reid played 27 Test matches for the Aussies. The left-arm pacer bagged 113 wickets during his stint with the Australian national team, but his batting stats are not so impressive. He scored just 93 runs in 27 matches that he played.

In ODIs, Bruce has 61 caps with 63 wickets to show from them, and just 49 runs scored. Another interesting fact is that he was the bowling coach of team India, for the Australian tour in 2003-04.

The 56-year-old was one of the tallest players to play international cricket, alongside former West Indies bowler Joel Garner, who both stood at six feet and eight inches.

Later, Pakistani pacer Mohammad Irfan surpassed them as he was seven feet and one inch tall.

3) Pragyan Ojha

Ex-India international Pragyan Ojha also features on this list of international bowlers. Ojha has played 24 Test matches for the national team. The 33-year-old has bagged 113 wickets, exactly as much as Bruce Reid, but he scored 89 runs as a batsman for India.

He also took part in 18 ODI games for the Men in Blue to clinch 21 wickets, and also contributed 46 runs with the bat.

In his short-career, Ojha represented two Indian Premier League (IPL) teams as well, firstly the Deccan Chargers, and later the Mumbai Indians (MI) for three years each.

He left-handed bowler continues to play in the Ranji Trophy for Hyderabad but was transferred to Bihar for the 18/19 season.

2) Chris Martin

Chris Martin made his Test debut for New Zealand in November 2000 versus South Africa. He went on to play 71 matches for the Black Caps and scalped 233 wickets but the international bowler was able to score just 123 runs with the bat.

In ODI cricket, he represented the Kiwis 20 times, taking 18 wickets and scoring a mere 8 runs.

In 2013, Martin retired from all forms of cricket, but he remains the third-highest wicket-taker for New Zealand in Test cricket.

The 33-year-old has previously played one first-class match for English county side Essex in 2010.

1) Bhagwat Chandrasekhar

Former India leggie Bhagwat Chandrasekhar leads the list of international bowlers who have more wickets than the runs they scored in Test cricket. He played 58 matches for Team India, after making his debut in January 1964 against England.

The 74-year-old took 242 wickets in Indian colours but was able to contribute just 167 runs while batting.

Interestingly, he played just one solitary ODI match for India, against New Zealand in February 1976. He notched three wickets in that game and scored 11 runs without losing his wicket.

Chandrasekhar is a recipient of the Padmashri in 1972, the fourth highest civilian award in India. He also won the Arjun Award in 1972.