All-rounders are the most valuable asset in any cricket team. The value they bring to the table is amazing and helps the team balance perfectly.
The names mentioned below are elite gentlemen who have achieved double streaks with both bat and ball. You will find some gem all-rounders, a few part-time batters who have/had strengthened their team’s batting tail, and part-time bowlers who have been an added bowling option for the captains.
So far, there are 14 players in international cricket with more than 2500 runs and 250+ wickets in Test cricket, and we have listed them all in this article.
| PLAYER | MATCHES | RUNS | BAT AVG | WICKETS | BOW AVG | AVG DIFFERENCE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shane Warne (AUS) | 145 | 3154 | 17.32 | 708 | 25.41 | -8.08 |
| Anil Kumble (IND) | 132 | 2506 | 17.77 | 619 | 29.65 | -11.87 |
| Stuart Broad (ENG) | 160 | 3552 | 18.30 | 567 | 27.80 | -9.50 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) | 90 | 3066 | 27.37 | 460 | 24.01 | 3.35 |
| Kapil Dev (IND) | 131 | 5248 | 31.05 | 434 | 29.64 | 1.40 |
| Richard Hadlee (NZ) | 86 | 3124 | 27.16 | 431 | 22.29 | 4.86 |
| Shaun Pollock (SA) | 108 | 3781 | 32.31 | 421 | 23.11 | 9.19 |
| Wasim Akram (PAK) | 104 | 2898 | 22.64 | 414 | 23.62 | -0.98 |
| Ian Botham (ENG) | 102 | 5200 | 33.54 | 383 | 28.40 | 5.14 |
| Imran Khan (PAK) | 88 | 3807 | 37.69 | 362 | 22.81 | 14.88 |
| Daniel Vettori (NZ) | 113 | 4531 | 30.00 | 362 | 34.36 | -4.36 |
| Chaminda Vaas (SL) | 111 | 3089 | 24.32 | 355 | 29.58 | -5.25 |
| Jacques Kallis (SA) | 166 | 13289 | 55.37 | 292 | 32.65 | 22.71 |
| Ravindra Jadeja (IND) | 62 | 2593 | 37.04 | 252 | 24.32 | 12.72 |
Key Stats
Former South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis is the leading run-scorer among the cricketers who have picked more than 250 Test wickets. He is also the only cricketer from the elite 10000+ Test runs list to feature in this list. If you look at the last column, he is the only one with a difference in the average of more than 20, showing how good an all-rounder he is, followed by Imran Khan and Ravindra Jadeja. If you are unsure how the bowling average is calculated, check here.
Indian former leg-spinner-cum-captain, Anil Kumble reached his batting milestone of 2500 runs in his last batted innings from his last Test match. He scored 45 in that drawn Test match against Australia in Delhi in November 2008.
Ravindra Jadeja is the latest entrant to this list.
Among the current cricketers with more than 2500 Test runs, Ben Stokes and Shakib Al Hasan have bright chances of making it to the list as they are nearing their 250-wicket milestone. Among the non-retired bowlers with more than 250 wickets, Tim Southee and Michael Starc have a slight chance as the duo needs around 700 runs more in their Test career to meet the benchmarks of this milestone list.
And there were some close misses too. Harbhajan Singh, the former Indian off-spinner, scored 2201 runs in his career with 417 wickets. Likewise, all-rounders Gary Sobers (WI) and Andrew Flintoff (ENG), with more than 2500 Test runs, finished their careers with 235 and 226 Test wickets.
Another interesting candidate who could have been made to this list was Richie Benaud. The former Australian all-rounder ended his Test career with 2201 runs and 248 wickets.
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