One of the finest wicket-keepers in the history of the game Wasim Bari was born on March 23, 1948, at Karachi. He is the right-handed batsmen and wicket-keeper played 81 tests and 51 ODI’s for Pakistan from 1967 to 1984. When he announced his retirement he was the most capped player for Pakistan in test cricket. He was the best wicket during his playing days among the keepers coming from South Asia region. He also came in handy with the bat at many occasions and manages 15 with the bat.
Batting and Fielding Averages of Wasim Bari
| Mat | Inns | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 6s | Ct | St | |
| Tests | 81 | 112 | 1366 | 85 | 15.88 | – | – | 0 | 6 | 2 | 201 | 27 |
| ODIs | 51 | 26 | 221 | 34 | 17 | 431 | 51.27 | 0 | 0 | – | 52 | 10 |
| First-class | 286 | 357 | 5751 | 177 | 21.7 | – | – | 2 | 21 | – | 684 | 144 |
| List A | 85 | 47 | 451 | 54 | 16.7 | – | – | 0 | 1 | – | 95 | 20 |
He made his test debut against England in July 1967 and made his first appearance in one-day cricket in the year of 1973 against New Zealand. In 1979 during the match against Australians, he created history by becoming the first wicketkeeper to caught 7 catches behind the stumps. At the time of retirement, he has got 228 test victims to his name and the record still stands second only next to MS Dhoni’s record of the higher number of test dismissals.
He also holds the record of most stumping done in a test. He had done that in a test match against Australia in 1977 where he had done 4 stumpings. He will be remembered for his unbeaten 11th wicket partnership with Wasim raja where he went on to score unbeaten 60 runs. His acrobatic dives and stunning catches were the talks of the town during his playing days. He is widely respected as the best wicketkeeper played in the 1970s.
During his career that spanned over 17 years, he has also scored 1366 runs including 6 fifties under his belt. He also accounted for 62 dismissals in one-day internationals the most by the Pakistani players during that time. He has got 28 stumpings which stood most during that time. Bari was awarded a lifetime achievement award in 1997 and also served as a chief operating officer for PCB.
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