Wasim Bari

When it comes to Wasim Bari, his wicketkeeping did the talking.

Bari was a gem and one of the World’s most reliable wicketkeepers. He came at a time when wicketkeepers weren’t considered as batsmen. It is a necessity to have a wicketkeeper who can bat in modern cricket, but it wasn’t always like this. Wicketkeeper batsmen were once considered a luxury.

Having Wasim Bari behind the stumps for Pakistan‘s pace and spin attack meant guaranteed safety. His 201 catches and 27 stumpings in Tests and 684 catches and 144 stumpings in First-class cricket are evidence of his calibre.

Bari went on to play 81 Tests and 51 ODIs from 1967 to 1984, and he was Pakistan’s most-capped player at the end of his 17-year career.

Late Tony Greig recalled the time when Alan Knott – who was considered the best wicketkeeper at the time – gave the accolade to Bari. Even the great Imran Khan, who is credited to have stopped Bari from retiring early, believed him to be on par with Knott.

Wasim Bari saw his name in the record books quickly. He spectacularly equalled the record for 8 catches in a match in 1971, against England.

If that wasn’t enough to prove his talent behind the stumps, he went on to stump four Australian batsmen in 1976/77 to get into the record books again. Against the Kiwis in 1979, Bari created the World record for most dismissals. 7 Kiwi batsmen out of the first 8 were caught behind.

Wasim Bari as Pakistan captain

Bari finished his career with the best wicketkeeping stats for a Pakistani and South Asian at the time. To this day, India’s MS Dhoni is the only South Asian who was able to overtake him.

Wasim Bari captained Pakistan in 6 Tests and 5 ODIs at a time when the prominent players were busy in Kerry Packer’s World Series.

All of the Tests that Bari captained were against England, both home and away. Pakistan managed to draw the home series while lost the away one 2-0.

The away series against England was infamous for its targeted bouncers against Pakistan’s tailenders that led to injuries.

Post retirement, Bari went on to become the Chief Selector of the Pakistan Cricket Team. He was also picked as the Pakistan team’s Manager.

In Feb. 2022 he went on to become the wicketkeeping consultant of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s High Performance Centre in Karachi.

	Test	First-class	ODI	List A
Matches	81	286	51	85
Runs	1,366	5,751	221	451
Batting Avg.	15.88	21.70	17.00	16.70
50s/100s	6/0	21/2	0/0	1/0
Highest Score	85	177	34	54
Balls Bowled	8	60	–	0
Wickets	0	1	–	0
Bowling Avg.	–	30.00	–	0
5-wicket hauls	0	0	–	0
10 wickets in a match	0	0	–	0
Best Bowling Figures	–	1/11	–	0
Catches/Stumpings	201/27	684/144	52/10	95/20