Top 5 ODI all-rounders of all time 

The all-rounder is a rare species in top-class cricket since very few cricketers can actually shine with both the bat and the ball.

While such cricketers are an asset to a team in any format of the game, they are particularly prized in one-day internationals due to the nature of the game.

An all-rounder's presence allows a team to have an extra bowler or an extra batsman and overall, makes the team a totally different kind of beast.

Over the years, plenty of top-class all-rounders have played international cricket and many of them were pivotal to the success of their teams. Here is a look at 5 of the finest all-rounders to have ever played one-day cricket.

#5 Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq's elevation to number 3 in the batting order during the 1999 World Cup turned him into the great all-rounder that he went on to become. Razzaq wasn't express quick but he was accurate and had the ability to swing the ball. He was an excellent death bowler as well and in addition to that, he had the technique to face up to the best bowlers in the world.

Razzaq could help steady the innings when it was needed, while on the other hand, he was an extremely dangerous hitter and had won many games for Pakistan with his tremendous hitting in the slog overs. He played 265 one day internationals for Pakistan, during the course of which Razzaq made 6252 runs. He had a modest average of 29.70 but it was his strike rate of 81.25 that made him so dangerous.

He made 3 centuries and as many as 23 half-centuries in his illustrious career. He bowled 1st or 2nd change on most occasions and picked up 269 wickets, at an average of 31.83 and an economy rate of 4.69. Razzaq is, without a doubt, one of the finest all-rounders to have played one-day cricket.

#4 Shahid Afridi

He started off his career as a specialist leg-spinner but when Shahid Afridi made the then fastest century in one day cricket against Sri Lanka in just 37 balls, he became the team's all-rounder. That being said, in those initial years of his career, Afridi did not bowl as regularly and played primarily as an opening batsman. However, it was later on in his career, when he became a deadly leg-spinner and an equally destructive lower-middle order power hitter for Pakistan.

His batting could be exasperating at times since he went for big hits right from the start. That explains his rather lowly average of only 23.57 in 398 one day internationals. However, an astonishing strike rate of 117 shows the sort of damage that he could inflict when he got going and he did it quite often.

Afridi scored 8064 runs in his one-day career. His fast leg spin proved to be extremely difficult to play in the latter half of his career and for a period, he was probably the finest limited overs spinner in the world. In his one day career, Afridi 395 wickets at an average of 34.51 and an economy rate of 4.62.

#3 Lance Klusener

The former South African all-rounder was one of the most feared lower order batsmen during his time and it was primarily due to his ability to take some of the best bowlers in the world to the cleaners during the death overs.

In fact, he had batted at different positions for South Africa throughout his 8-year one-day international career from 1996 to 2004 and had even opened the batting on some occasions. He started off his career as a bowler and during those early years, he was a very quick bowler who could swing the ball either way.

In addition to that, Klusener could bowl yorkers and the slower ball during the death overs when the slog was on. In the latter part of his career, he lost a lot of pace but remained a wily bowler. In a one-day career spanning 171 games, Klusener picked up 192 wickets recorded an economy rate of 4.70. Klusener's exploits in the 1999 World Cup are still remembered with awe and he was rightly adjudged as the man of the tournament.

As a batsman, Klusener scored at an excellent average of 41.10 and had an equally brilliant strike rate of 89.91. When he was at the crease, no asking rate looked out of South Africa's reach.

#2 Sanath Jayasuriya

He is the greatest one-day batsman that Sri Lanka produced and certainly, one of the greatest opening batsmen in the history of one-day cricket. However, what is often forgotten is that former Sri Lankan great Sanath Jayasuriya was actually an all-rounder, who regularly bowled his full quote of fast left-arm off-spin for most of his career and has, in fact, taken 323 wickets in his 445 games long one-day international career spanning 22 years (1989-2011).

As a batsman, he was perhaps one of the most destructive opening batsmen to have ever played the game and was known for absolutely brutalising bowlers during the initial overs, when the fielding restrictions applied. He scored 13,430 runs for Sri Lanka and averaged 32.36, but the strike rate of 91.20 is proof that he could be an extremely damaging player. He also scored 28 centuries and as many as 68 half-centuries in his career.

It used to be extremely difficult to score quickly off Jayasuriya - the bowler. He was clever, he was extremely accurate and he bowled pretty fast if there was no turn on the pitch. There were times when he even bowled at the death for Sri Lanka and an economy rate of 4.78 is ample proof of his match-turning abilities as a one-day international bowler.

#1 Jacques Kallis

Former South African great Jacques Kallis is quite possibly the greatest all-rounder to have ever played the game since Sir Garfield Sobers and for most of his 18-year one-day international career, he was the best all-rounder in the world.

He opened the bowling for South Africa for many years due to his ability to bowl quick, swing the ball and the intelligence to restrict runs during the initial overs of a one-day game. In 328 games, Kallis took 273 wickets with an economy rate of 4.84 and an average of 31.79. Kallis also had an excellent strike rate of only 39.3.

Kallis was an equally towering figure in the South African batting line up and batted in the top order for most of his career. His technique, stroke-making abilities and the gift of reading the match situation perfectly made him the perfect sheet anchor.

Kallis averaged 44.36 and scored 11579 runs in his one-day career and remained the team's batting rock for close to a decade and a half. There will probably never be an all-rounder as good as him.