Top 10 ODI teams and the highest individual score by their wicket-keepers
The wicket-keeper's importance in a team has increased over the years as he is no longer the player who gets a place in the playing XI due to his keeping skills but he needs to possess batting abilities as well. Earlier, the wicket-keepers used to bat at no.8 or no.9 down the order but now with the evolution of the game, keepers like Quinton de Kock, Brendon McCullum, Mohammad Shahzad open the batting for their nations.
The limited overs format needs all the 11 players of the team to perform their role well. There have been several great wicket-keeper batsmen since the 2000s and here is the list of the highest individual score by the glovesmen of the top 10 ODI teams of the world -
#10 Pakistan - Kamran Akmal - 124 (125) vs West Indies, 2005
Kamran Akmal kept wickets for Pakistan for almost a decade. He played some vital innings down the order for them in the initial stages of his career which led to the wicket-keeper's promotion in the batting order. Assigned the responsibility to open the innings against West Indies in a VB series match at Brisbane in 2005, Kamran helped his team win the match with a crucial century.
After inviting the Windies to bat first, Pakistan restricted them to 273/5 in their 50 overs with Naved-ul-Hasan with 2/55 being the pick of the bowlers. Chasing 274, Akmal gave the perfect start to the Men in Green and scored 124 off 125 balls which included 12 fours. He won the man of the match award in his team's 6 wicket victory.