The most unlucky wicketkeeper of Team India who opened both batting and bowling in his last test.

Cricket News Desk. In the third Test played in Rawalpindi, Pakistan's Sam Ayub opened both batting and bowling, that is, he opened the batting and also started the attack with the new ball. This is not commonly seen, but it is also true that there have been many players before him who have done this. He is the 70th player ever to do this in Test matches and overall this has happened 154 times.

Two Indian all-rounders lead in this matter – Manoj Prabhakar (22 times) and ML Jaisimha (13 times), followed by Pakistan's Mudassar Nazar (9 times) and India's Abid Ali (6 times). Before Sam Ayub, this feat was last seen in the Test against West Indies in Bulawayo in late 2017, when Zimbabwe's Solomon Mayers had achieved the record. If you look at this list, you will find a name which everyone will be shocked to hear, because this name is of an expert wicketkeeper. It is good that the wicketkeeper opens the batting, but what if he also starts the attack with the new ball?

This is Indian wicketkeeper Buddhi Kunderan and he made this record against England at Edgbaston in July 1967. This name is the answer to all the questions written above. Many such questions and stories are associated with his name. Let's talk about the Edgbaston Test of 1967. This was Kunderan's 18th and final Test. On the first day of the Test, Kundran opened the bowling with Subramaniam and bowled 4 overs (conceding 13 runs) while opening the batting with second wicketkeeper Farooq Engineer.

When the Indian team was announced for this test, the names of two wicketkeepers surprised everyone. However, the team clarified that the wicketkeeper will be an engineer and Kunderan will be a specialist batsman and will bowl with the new ball. Captain Mansoor Ali Khan was Pataudi and Pataudi has mentioned this incident in his book 'Tiger's Tale'. In the press conference a day before the Test match, he was asked what style of bowling Kunderan bowled. His answer was- 'After seeing Kundran's bowling, I can only say this – we will have to wait.'

It was clear that giving the new ball to Kunderan was just a formality and the team had full confidence in the spinner. This Edgbaston Test was the only Test in which India fielded all four of its great spinners of the 1960s and 70s, Khabbu Bishan Singh Bedi, leg spinner Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and off-spinners Erapalli Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan.

After this series in England in 1967, Kunderan was dropped from the team for the Australian tour in 1967–68 and this was a big blow for Kunderan. The selectors were wrong from every point of view. Kunderan's batting average at that time was 32, which was not much higher than even the Indian wicketkeepers of that era (the list includes P.G. Joshi, Narine Tamhane, Farooq Engineer and K.S. Inderjitsinhji), yet he played for 8 years. Played only 18 Tests and in this career I was also on 'Test' the whole time!

His bowling in the Edgbaston Test was much discussed in the British media and bowling for the first time in his Test career, he gave only 13 runs in 4 overs. It is true that Kunderan could bowl (overall record in first-class cricket: 3-160 off 219 balls in 129 matches) but it was merely ceremonial bowling. In this too, Kundera threw a bumper to Geoff Boycott. To avoid this the boycott had to be suppressed.

Unfortunate because he competed with the more popular 'brill cream boy' Farooq Engineer for wicketkeeping in Test matches, but those who have seen both of them keep wickets say he was as good a wicketkeeper as Farooq. As per the latest records, his test average is 32.70 which is better than Farooq (31.08). Additionally, in his 18 Test match career, Kunderan opened the innings 21 times and scored at an average of 41 – a record that is extremely impressive for any batsman.

However, amidst all this debate, in the same 1967 series, Kundran got a memorable bonus which changed his life. He met and married Linda during the Headingley Test. All these incidents are a different story.