Modern wicketkeepers in test cricket embody a fearlessness that is uncharacteristic of batters in a bowling dominated era. Bowling friendly pitches, the change in the Kookaburra ball and wobble seam bowling has brought along what has been dubbed as the pace playing pandemic by cricket writers worldwide.
Today’s wicketkeepers coming in to bat at 5 or 6(just when the ball is getting a little weathered) usually opt to smash the ball out of the park, taking the bowlers on and making the best out of their late entry points into the game.
Wicketkeeping batters to Batting Wicketkeepers
Cast your mind a few decades back and think about wicketkeepers in the 2000s or the early 2010s, chances are the names that come to mind are Mark Boucher, MS Dhoni, or Adam Gilchrist. While Gilly was an exception, whose batting style later became the blueprint of our modern batting wicketkeepers.
Wicketkeepers were mostly picked on the basis of their wicketkeeping skills and being a handy bat at No.7 and an ability to bat with the tail. It was still considered the best strategy to pick the best gloveman in your country, notwithstanding their batting skills if your top order and middle order could sufficiently pile on runs.
Consider the examples of the following keepers:
- Mark Boucher averaging 30.30 with a career SR of 50.11
- Alec Stewart averaging 39.54 with a career SR of 48.66
- MS Dhoni averaging 38.09 with a career SR of 59.11
These are keepers with modest batting averages who weren’t too aggressive lest they should lose their wicket batting with the tail. This small list features two of the most successful wicketkeepers in international cricket namely Boucher and Dhoni.
What did Gilly do?
Now let us come to Adam Gilchrist’s numbers who came in for Australia at No.7 and averaged 47.60 with a career SR of 81.95. Bolstered by Australia’s impeccable top order and middle order, he played freely and took any bowling attack he saw in front of him and smashed them out of the park.
Apart from his late entry point and confidence in his top order, Gilchrist saw his position in the team as the wicketkeeper as his surety for his aggressive batting style. Gilly’s presence down the order innovated batting for wicketkeepers something that we are seeing today with contemporary wicketkeepers such as Jamie Smith, Alex Carey and most notably Rishabh Pant.
What happened last week?
The previous week in test cricket featured multiple knocks that exhibit the point that I’m trying to make.
- Rishabh Pant- 134(178) striking at 75.28 in the first innings
118(140) striking at 84.28 in the second innings
- Jamie Smith- 40(52) striking at 76.92 in the first innings
44(55) striking at 80.00 in the second innings
- Alex Carey- 65(75) striking at 86.66 in the second innings
Jamie Smith and Alex Carey come in to bat at No.7 and have shown aggressive intent when faced with aggression and threat from the bowling end. Old school wicketkeepers would have been content to keep the ball out and keep the scoreboard ticking, while these wicketkeepers take on the bowlers and score useful runs as quickly as they can.
With bowling strike rates being their all time lowest in 2024, batters have often chosen to attack rather than defend knowing that they will go out sooner rather than later. Gone are the days of Dravid, Pujara, and Cook because while averages seemed to be falling, run-rates hit an all time high in 2024 with 3.65 runs being scored per over.
Batting Wicketkeepers
Rishabh Pant has quite clearly modelled his batting style after Adam Gilchrist, averaging 44.44 and striking at 74.03, he is the quintessential aggressive batting wicketkeeper of modern times. Yet, while these wicketkeepers have managed to impact the game positively with the bat, their keeping seems to be suffering.
While earlier teams would pick up the best gloveman in the country based on their keeping skills, with top 6 averages at an all time low, teams are looking to pick up batters who can keep wicket. England dropping Ben Foakes for Jamie Smith or Ollie Pope as their wicketkeeper tells us that they’d rather pick the extra bat than the best keeper in the country.
It’s not just England, we have seen India opting for Pant over other keepers such as Wriddhiman Saha or KS Bharat because of his flair with the bat. Now Dhruv Jurel, another promising keeper-batter is waiting in the stands for his chance and with Pant’s recent success with the bat, can India not just play him as a batter and give the gloves to Jurel.
The curious case of Johnny Bairstow
Gilchrist always maintained that he could keep playing his attacking style of cricket because his keeping assured him a spot in the Australian side. Jonny Bairstow, a major proponent of England’s Bazball side found his average slipping when he was picked only as a batter and not the keeper.
Bairstow’s average dropped from 37.63 when he was the designated keeper to 34.93 when he was picked only as a batter. His form dried up, his runs dried up and eventually he was dropped from the side after the India tour early in 2024.
Rishabh Pant may suffer something similar if he is picked only as a batter, or it may even go the other way, bolstered by the confidence shown by his selectors he may go all out, improving his batting in the absence of his keeping duties, but is it worth risking the enigma that is Rishabh Pant in test cricket?
Conclusion
Modern test batting travails have encouraged the birth of batting wicketkeepers like Pant, Smith, and Carey. Teams need a reliable 7th batter who can put runs on the board on spicy wickets where bowlers are running rampant.
Wicketkeeping is a skill that cannot be measured or analysed beyond caught behinds or stumpings but we have managed to analyse every nitty gritty behind the art of batting. Amid test batting woes, we may be losing our specialist keepers to batting wicketkeepers.
Tanya Singh 
Poorvisha R 
Annsly Raena