Top 5 scores by Indian wicketkeepers in Test cricket

#2 Budhi Kunderan - 192 vs England in Madras, 1964

Budhi Kunderan opened the batting for India when he scored 192 vs England

Budhi Kunderan competed with Farokh Engineer to be India’s wicketkeeper in the 1960s and he played as a wicketkeeper in 15 Test matches for India. However, he was adept with the bat and was picked as a batsman for three more Test matches.

Extraordinarily, Kunderan opened the bowling and batting for India in his final Test, against England, in 1967. India opted to play four specialist spinners and thus Kunderan was given the daunting task of bowling to Geoffrey Boycott and Colin Milburn.

The highlight of his career came in 1964 against England at Madras. Kunderan was picked for the squad because Engineer was injured and he was given the opportunity to open the innings. Interestingly, in his two previous Tests, he batted at No 11 and No 10.

At Madras, Kunderan scored 192 runs which was then the highest score by an Indian batsman against England. He also had a hand in six dismissals in the same Test.

Kunderan scored another century in the same series at Delhi and amassed 525 runs at an average of 52.5.

His score against England was the highest by a wicketkeeper in Test matches at that time beating the previous record of 168* by Clyde Walcott for England vs West Indies in 1950. It was only surpassed for the first time in 1980 by Pakistan’s Taslim Arif against Australia. Today, it is the eleventh highest score of all-time by a wicketkeeper in Test matches.