Test Cricket is the oldest form of Cricket. While today’s fast paced lifestyle has downplayed its importance as an interesting format, there is still a lot of excitement for those who are ardent fans of the sport.
Over its storied history, Test Cricket has had many prolific performers who made their mark in the longest format of the game. Some chose to ply their trade in that specific format, while many others broke out into other formats with mixed results. In this article, we take a look at five Test players who had a surprisingly good ODI career. So without further ado, let’s dive in.
Rahul Dravid
The very first entry here is of arguably one of the best batsmen Test Cricket has ever produced. Rahul Dravid, or ‘The Wall’ as he is famously known, is synonymous with Indian Test Cricket. The extraordinary batsman’s exploits in the longest format have cemented him as one of the all-time greats.
What may be surprising to the younger viewers is that Dravid also had a respectable ODI career. Despite his reputation of being a slow scorer in Tests, Rahul was a mainstay in the ODI format of the game. He scored 10,889 runs in 344 matches with an average of 39.16. He hit 12 centuries and an incredible 83 half-centuries in his white-ball career. Rahul Dravid was a trusty batsman and an incredible fielder for the Indian team.
Jacques Kallis
Jacques Kallis is one of the best all-rounders in the world. The prolific South African made his International debut in a Test match against England. Ever since then, he has constantly been a huge asset for the Proteas, producing many match-winning knocks. The one thing that left everyone surprised was the ability of Kallis to any format of the game. He produced great performances in the ODI as well as T20I formats of the game.
Jacques Kallis had an average of 55.37 in Tests, and extended his sublime touch to the ODI format as well, averaging 44.36 and accumulating a mind-boggling 11,579 runs. Kallis retired from all formats of the game in 2014, hitting a ton in his last match. He was appointed as the batting consultant for the South African team in the December of 2019.
Mitchell Johnson
Mitchell Johnson is one of the most lethal fast bowers Australia has ever produced. The Queensland-born pacer is the quickest to reach 150 Test wickets. After getting dropped due to a dip in form, Johnson made his comeback in thundering fashion as he destroyed England with his fearsome and aggressive bowling style in The Ashes.
He made his mark as a great ODI bowler when he decimated India’s batting line-up, getting the vaulted wickets of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh. He has since then amassed a total of 239 ODI wickets and 313 Test wickets. Johnson was also a handy batsman, with a century and 11 half centuries in the Test format, and 2 half-centuries in the ODI format under his belt. He retired from all formats of the game in 2018, and is now a commentator.
Javagal Srinath
Javagal Srinath made his Test debut against Australia in 1991 and impressed everyone with his performances. He was one of the fastest bowlers in the world, bowling consistently at about 150 Kmph. He clocked his highest speed at 157 Kmph in a match against Zimbabwe.
Srinath was India’s premier bowlers when a rotator-cuff injury forced him to change his bowling style and reduce his speed. Despite that, Srinath became the first Indian fast bowler to reach 300 ODI wickets. Srinath was an absolute match-winner for India, providing support to the tail-end of India’s batting order with his batting skills. He was predominantly used as Test bowler at home as well as abroad, as he knew how to reverse-swing the ball. He retired in 2003, accumulating 551 international wickets.
Shane Warne
Shane Warne is one o the greatest spinners of all time. The Australian has picked more than a thousand wickets in his legendary career. While Warne played for Australia in ODIs as well as Tests, he arguably found more success in the longer format of the game, amassing more than 700 wickets in the longest format of the game. That doesn’t mean that he wasn’t successful in ODIs. The wily spinner gathered 293 wickets in 194 matches.
Warne was also a handy batsman in the lower order. He is, in fact the only player to score more than 3000 runs without scoring a century in his/her career. Shane Warne retired in 2006, and went on to captain an IPL-winning Rajasthan Royals. He has since retired from active competition and acts as a commentator.
