IPL: 3 cricketers who have both bowled and kept wickets
In the Indian Premier League (IPL), the value of all-rounders can never be overstated.
Cricketers who can contribute with both bat and ball are paid the highest, garner the most attention and are always in contention for the Man of the Match and Man of the Series awards. In fact, only 3 players have won the Most Valuable Player award twice - Shane Watson, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell - and all 3 are all-rounders.
But there have been a few cricketers who have taken this a step further, by contributing from behind the stumps and with the ball. We have seen cricketers like Tillakaratne Dilshan do this at the international level, but there haven't been as many instances in the IPL owing to its highly competitive nature and the fact that it is in the T20 format.
42 cricketers have kept wickets in the IPL so far. Among these, here are 3 players who have also rolled their arm over, and amazingly, two of these players even managed to pick up wickets.
Also Read: IPL: KKR's greatest overseas XI of all time
#3 Adam Gilchrist
With 67 dismissals (51 catches and 16 stumpings), Adam Gilchrist is the wicket-keeper with the seventh-most dismissals in the history of the IPL. The Australian is widely regarded as one of the greatest glovemen of all time and in his 6-year IPL career, he scored 2,069 runs with 11 fifties and 2 centuries.
Gilchrist has also taken a wicket in what is one of the most unforgettable moments in the history of the IPL.
In the 6th edition of the IPL, the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) took on the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the final group stage game with nothing to play for. With 51 runs required off the last over, the then-KXIP captain decided to give himself a bowl in his last IPL game.
A slow delivery was hit by Harbhajan Singh straight to long-on, giving Gilchrist a wicket off his first (and only) IPL wicket. He broke out into multiple impromptu dances, and ran around in unbridled joy.
Interestingly, the fielder who took the catch to give Gilchrist this wicket is next on the list.
#2 Gurkeerat Singh
In IPL 2020, all-rounder Gurkeerat Singh will play for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and on the spin-friendly UAE pitches, he is expected to provide captain Virat Kohli with an additional bowling option.
A lesser-known fact about Gurkeerat is that he has kept wickets in 3 of the 33 IPL games that he has played, with only 1 catch to show for. The Punjab all-rounder has also chipped in with the ball in hand, and has scalped 5 wickets in 13 overs at an economy rate of 7.46. These wickets came in the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and he hasn't bowled in the IPL since.
Gurkeerat has taken over 75 wickets in his career so far, and could add to his tally in IPL 2020. He is the only player on this list who has moulded himself into a proper part-time option.
#1 Ambati Rayudu
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star Ambati Rayudu has largely been used as a specialist batsman in the recent past, but the Hyderabad man has both bowled and kept wickets in the IPL.
Rayudu has donned the gloves in 20 games, with 15 dismissals (13 catches and 2 stumpings) to show for. The 34-year-old has also bowled 3 overs in the IPL, way back in the 2011 season, and conceded 22 runs without picking up a wicket. He is the only wicket-keeper on this list to have not managed to dismiss a batsman and with his career winding down, he may never manage to accomplish the feat.
However, Rayudu will be crucial for CSK in IPL 2020 in the absence of the team's leading run-scorer and vice-captain Suresh Raina, who pulled out of the tournament citing personal reasons.
Also Read: IPL: 3 great T20 players who flopped for KKR