New Delhi: Legendary Australian cricketer and former captain Ricky Ponting has chosen Jacques Kallis as the “best cricketer to ever play,” leaving out Indian batting icons Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. Kallis, who also represented Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, was Ponting’s pick when asked about the “greatest to ever play cricket” on The Howie Games podcast.
Ricky Ponting praised Jacques Kallis as the greatest cricketer to ever play, stating, “Jacques Kallis is the best cricketer that’s ever played. I don’t care. I don’t care about all the others. Full stop. 13,000 runs. 44 or 45 Test hundreds. And 300 wickets. Either one of those careers is outstanding. You can take 300 Test wickets every day of the week, and you take 45 Test hundreds. He’s got them both. He was just a born cricketer. Unorthodox in the slips, didn’t drop anything in the slips, had a sort of funny technique, caught everything. I think he’s the best and the most underrated because he’s not talked about very much at all. Probably because of his personality and his character. He’s not out there. He’s low-key, yeah. Hasn’t done much media work. So, he’s sort of one of those forgotten-about ones a little bit.”
Jacques Kallis had a remarkable 19-year international career, playing for South Africa from 1995 to 2014. Over the course of 166 Tests, 328 ODIs, and 25 T20Is, he accumulated a total of 13,289 runs in Tests, 11,579 runs in ODIs, and 666 runs in T20Is. In addition to his batting feats, Kallis was also a formidable bowler, taking 292 wickets in Tests, 273 wickets in ODIs, and 12 wickets in T20Is. He remains the third-leading run scorer in Test cricket and ranks eighth in the list of all-time highest run scorers in ODIs.
As an exceptional outfielder, Jacques Kallis completed 338 catches in his 519 international matches, ranking fourth for most catches by any player. He is also one of only four players to have taken 200 catches in Test cricket.
In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Kallis represented Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) from 2008 to 2010 and then played for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) from 2011 to 2014. During his time with KKR, he won two IPL titles under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir. Kallis ended his IPL career with impressive stats, scoring 2,427 runs and taking 65 wickets in 98 matches.
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