Cricketers with most run outs in international cricket
While bowlers have the most number of ways to dismiss a batsman, there are also ways for a fielder to inflict the same pain. And the most common means is to run the batsman out. Many cricketers have made their names in this department especially, such as Jonty Rhodes, AB de Villiers and Brendon Mccullum to name a few.
They are so agile and athletic that batsmen think twice before running after hitting the ball in their direction. Their reputation itself helps them save runs for their team, leading to more dot balls and hence batsmen start taking risky runs to negate the pressure building up and running themselves out.
There are also many factors other than swiftness and the accuracy of the fielders that come into play with this dismissal such as the slowness of the batsmen, ill judgement of runs and miscommunication with their partners. Although batsmen like Dhoni and Kohli are fast, their excellence in pinching singles is mainly due to their excellent judgement of runs.
Now let’s take a look at the worst 5 run out victims in the history of international cricket across all formats.
#5 Inzamam-ul-Haq – 46
The most non-surprising run-out casualty is the much-mocked former Pakistani captain Inzamam-ul-Haq. Due to his heavy build and slow reflexes, he was a regular target of close in fielders, having been run out himself a mindboggling 46 times.
Given that he was also involved in numerous mixups leading to the fall of his partner, the total number of mix-ups is way higher. Thus he was in the mould of a Sehwag/Gayle, preferring to deal in boundaries rather than run hard for his runs. Inzamam has been much ridiculed for his running throughout his career, with him even beating up a spectator once for calling him a potato.
Despite his amazing batting ability and captaincy, he is most remembered for his abysmal running. He was also unfortunately for him the reason why Jonty Rhodes started getting noticed when Rhodes flew into the stumps to run Inzamam out during the 1992 World Cup.