With Pakistan in a comfortable position against Zimbabwe during the fifth and final ODI the teams’ bilateral series at Bulawayo, Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed decided to ditch the wicketkeeping gloves to try his hand at a spell of bowling. But he was not the first player to do so. Let’s have a look at some interesting facts about the wicket-keepers who have bowled in the international cricket.
In ODIs before Sarfaraz Ahmed, there were just 5 players who have bowled and kept wickets in the same match for their country. The list includes likes of MS Dhoni, Tatenda Taibu, Andrew Hall, Hashan Tillekeratne and Devon Thomas.
MS Dhoni bowling
Zimbabwe’s Tatenda Taibu is the only wicketkeeper who has bowled a full quota of overs in an ODI. He finished with the fantastic figures of 2 for 42 against Sri Lanka.
Tatenda Taibu
A right-hand batsman and wicketkeeper for West Indies have the best bowling figures by a wicket-keeper. He picked up 2 wickets for 11 runs in 1.1 overs against Bangladesh.
Devon Thomas
Mark Boucher has only bowled once in international cricket. It was in a Test match against West Indies in 2005. He picked up the wicket of Dwayne Bravo with his eighth ball. If one takes this wicket into account and places it alongside his 999 dismissals with the gloves, Boucher would have accounted for 1,000 victims in international cricket.
Mark Boucher
Among other popular wicket-keepers Kumar Sangakkara has bowled 13 overs for 42 runs, Brendon Mccullum has bowled 6 overs for 18 runs, MS Dhoni has bowled 13 overs for 58 runs & Matthew Wade has bowled 1 maiden over in Test Cricket
Wicket-keepers
