It is being said that nothing can stop a person from achieving his aim in life if he is really determined and devoted towards his goal. Usually we get to hear that in most of the sports, a person needs to be tall in order to play that game in the best manner but cricket is one sport in which we have seen that many short-heighted players have also performed well and made their country proud with their performances.
Here is a list of the shortest cricketers of all times:
1. Kruger van Wyk (4.75 ft):
This former New Zealand cricketer holds the record for being the shortest test cricketer of the world. Kruger was born in South Africa and he played first class cricket over there. He was a wicketkeeper-batter and there was no chance of him making an entry in South Africa’s international team because Mark Boucher was performing pretty well. Then Kruger shifted to New Zealand and made his test debut in 2012 and he got retired from all forms of cricket in 2015.
2. Walter Cornford (5 ft.):
Walter Cornford who was an English cricketer was also known as Tich Cornford because of his short height. He played 4 test matches in New Zealand in 1930 and he used to play county cricket for Sussex County Cricket Club.
3. Mushfiqur Rahim (5.3 ft.):
The Bangladeshi cricketer has also served as the captain of the national team and he is a wicketkeeper who is a useful middle-order batter too. He made his debut at the international level in 2005 and till now, he has represented Bangladesh in 86 test matches, 260 ODIs and 102 T20Is.
4. Parthiv Patel (5.3 ft.):
The former Indian cricketer made his test debut in 2002 at the age of 17 yrs and 153 days which made him the youngest wicketkeeper of test cricket. He wasn’t able to get many chances as MS Dhoni was already in the team and later he led the team as well but whenever he got the chance to play for the country, he gave his best shot.
5. Mominul Haque (5.3 ft.):
Mominul Haque is a Bangladeshi cricketer who has also served as the skipper of the Bangladeshi test team. He is a left-handed batter who made his international debut in 2012 and he was selected as the replacement of injured Shakib-al-Hasan.
6. Gundappa Vishwanath (5.3 ft.):
The former Indian cricketer was one of the finest batters of his times and he played 91 test matches and 25 ODIs for the country. He was nicknamed as Vishy and was known for his timing and placement of the ball rather than using the power for playing the shots.
7. Sunil Gavaskar (5.4 ft.):
The legendary former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar is certainly one of the greatest of all times, he is also considered as one of the greatest opening batters of all times and people still remember the wonderful manner in which he used to score runs against the deadly pace attack of West Indies. He was also a part of the 1983 World Cup winning team which was led by Kapil Dev.
8. Temba Bavuma (5.4 ft.):
The South African cricketer is currently the skipper of the test and ODI teams, earlier he led the T20 team as well but now he is not a part of South Africa’s T20 squad. He is the first black cricketer to lead the side and he was also the first black cricketer to score a test century for the Proteas.
9. Sachin Tendulkar (5.5 ft.):
The legendary former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is one of the greatest batters of all times. He has numerous records in his name and it won’t be wrong to say that for many Indian cricket fans, he is God of cricket. He led the national side from 1989 to 2013 and during his illustrious career of 24 years, he played 200 test matches and 463 ODIs for the country in which he scored 15,921 runs and 18,426 runs, respectively. Sachin Tendulkar also holds the record of the maximum number of international centuries (100) and he is the only sportsperson to receive the highest civilian award of the country, i.e., Bharat Ratna.
So height certainly doesn’t matter in cricket, it is just the talent and determination which will ascertain the level of success which a player can achieve.
