Rahul Dravid equals record for most catches in Test Cricket
MS Dhoni won the toss and put New Zealand into bat in the 1st Test at Hamiltion which started about an hour ago.
When New Zealand opener Martin Guptill nicked a Zaheer Khan delivery in the corridor of uncertainty, the ball was travelling straight towards VVS Laxman. But Rahul Dravid standing at 3rd slip had other ideas, of course. He dived to his left, and when he finally completed a great catch bang in fron of Laxman, the ace Indian batsmen and slip fielder had moved to the top of the list of most catches in a Test Cricket Career. Thi was Rahul Dravid’s catch no. 181 and he is now tied on the top position with Mark Waugh. This is Rahul Dravid’s test match no.132, 4 more than the total number of tests played by Waugh but in terms of number of innings, Dravid has actually played fewer and therefore his average of number of catches/innings at 0.744 is slightly better than Mark Waugh.
Maximum Catches in Test Cricket - Top 10 List
1. Rahul Dravid - 181, Mark Waugh - 181
3. Stephen Fleming - 171
4. Brian Lara - 164
5. Mark Taylor - 157
6. Allan Border - 156
7. Rickey Ponting - 147
8. Jacques Kallis - 145
9. Mahela Jayawardene - 142
10. Matthew Hayden - 128
It’s interesting to note that all the 10 cricketers in this list of players who have taken the maximum number of catches in test matches are modern players. ( 1980’s or later) Secondly, 5 out of those 10 names belong to Australia - a clear reason for or a function of their clear dominance in test cricket in the last 15 years.
Out of the 10 catchers mentioned in this top 10 list, Stephen Fleming of New Zealand has the best no. of catches / innings average at 0.859.
Please note that the above discussion/list doesn’t include wicket-keepers.