Top 5 ODI wicketkeepers of all time

The wicketkeeper's role has evolved considerably over the years. Today, a wicketkeeper not only needs to be good with the keeping gloves, but he also needs to be good with the batting gloves.

When you sit down to rank the top wicketkeepers the game has ever seen in ODIs, there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration.

Impact

You need to see the impact the player had on the game. You have to consider the kind of contributions they made, and how good they were at turning a match on its head.

Longevity

What makes someone truly great? It's the ability to do a good job again and again for a sizable length of time. There are many players who can have an amazing season or two, but what sets the greats apart is the ability to perform at a very high level again and again, year after year.

Statistics

How rare is it for a great player to have bad statistics? Very rare. A great player tends to have great statistics to back up his claim of being the best.

Legacy

What's also important is how you are remembered when you've left the game for good. The impact you've had, the inspiration you have provided, the kind of role model you are for your fellow countrymen and all around the world - all of this contributes to how you are viewed after you leave.

Based on the above-defined criteria, we have ranked the top five wicketkeepers to have ever played the ODI game. It's no surprise that most of the names are modern day greats and from recent generations; the role has gotten more evolved, and modern wicketkeepers have been a more rounded breed than their predecessors.

5. Mark Boucher

Matches: 295

Runs Scored: 4686

Average: 28.57

100s/50s: 1/26

Dismissals: 425

An integral part of the South African team for a span of 14 years, Mark Boucher finds himself on this list mainly because of his longevity.

He was a skillful wicketkeeper, and was also a more than potent batsman; he held the record of scoring the fastest 50 in ODIs by a South African at one point. And of course, who can forget the mammoth run chase of 434 by South Africa where Boucher played a pivotal role and saw them across the line.

In a team of accomplished batsmen against pacers, Boucher had the capability of playing well against spin too, which was pretty rare in that team. Many a time he was promoted up the order in the sub-continent, where he was able to contribute heavily.

Boucher was a game-changer in the world of wicketkeepers as he was a match-winner with the bat as well. The reason he doesn't feature any higher is that his average of 28.57 is a tad lower compared to the other keepers on the list.

4. Brendan McCullum

Brendon McCullum was one crazy talent

Matches: 260

Runs Scored: 6083

Average: 30.41

100s/50s: 5/32

Dismissals: 242

Strike Rate: 96.37

Brash, outrageous, freaking crazy or just a skillful psychopath - there are many ways to describe Brendon McCullum. If you have the audacity to lap a 160 kph yorker for six over fine leg, you need to be both crazy and mighty skillful to pull it off. And McCullum was both of those things.

People often talk about how freely the current New Zealand side plays, and a large share of the credit for that should go to their previous captain who took the word "fearless" to a whole new level.

It was his aggressive approach, his audacity, that made New Zealand win so many hearts at the 2015 World Cup. A leader in every sense, an innovator, an athlete and one hell of a player, McCullum made batting a true spectacle.

The only reason he doesn't find himself higher in the rankings is that he took relatively longer to peak in international cricket.

3. Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara was art, flair and class all wrapped into one

Matches: 404

Runs Scored: 14234

Average: 41.98

100s/50s: 25/93

Dismissals: 482

Kumar Sangakkara was an artist. And by any standard, he was one of the best batsmen to have ever come out of the Islands of Sri Lanka.

A couple of World Cup runner-up awards, many batting records to his name - if you look at it from a pure batting perspective, Sangakkara is probably the most complete batsman in this list. The numbers stack up so heavily in his favor that it is very hard to claim otherwise.

What goes against Sangakkara is the fact that he initially entered the team as a batsman, and only later in his career did he don the gloves. In effect, therefore, he wasn't a wicketkeeper-batsman throughout his career, but a wicketkeeper in one half and a specialist batsman in the other half.

2. MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni - The best finisher ever in Limited Overs Cricket

Matches: 332

Runs Scored: 10173

Average: 50.11

100s/50s: 10/67

Dismissals: 425

MS Dhoni is the greatest finisher the game has ever seen. Scoring more than 10,000 runs while primarily batting at No. 5 or 6 in ODIs, at an average of more than 50 - the numbers are almost too good to be true.

Dhoni as a batsman alone is one of the best ODI cricketers that the country has ever produced.

Winning two World Cups (a 50-over one to go with a T20 title) and taking his team to the No. 1 ranking in Tests, Dhoni has done everything that can be done in the game of cricket and more.

Now in the twilight of his career, he's still one of the fastest runners in world cricket and can still, on his day, take any attack apart. Scoring 183 while coming in at No. 3, effecting a series of brilliant stumpings to turn matches in his team's favor, or helping the team win the World Cup by coming in at a delicate time in the final, Dhoni's career is sprinkled with many iconic moments that make him not just a batting great but also one of the best wicketkeepers ever in ODIs.

1. Adam Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist - The man who changed it for everyone

Matches: 287

Runs Scored: 9619

Average: 35.19

100s/50s: 16/55

Dismissals: 472

The reason why Adam Gilchrist comes in at No. 1 is that the landscape changed tremendously from the time he started playing international cricket and the time he retired.

The person responsible for the change was Gilchrist himself. He changed the way wicketkeepers were perceived in cricket, and made aggressive batting an almost necessary skill for a wicketkeeper.

Responsible for Ian Healy's early retirement from cricket, Gilchrist was able to make the opening slot his own. He was easily one of the most feared cricketers in world cricket.

And the icing on the cake? Gilchrist was the epitome of a big match player. Gilchrist was a member of three World Cup winning teams, and remarkably, in all the three finals it was he who took the game away from the opposition - be it in 1999, 2003 or 2007.

Surely that makes him the greatest, doesn't it?