There has always been a perception in cricket that ‘height’ can provide certain perks to the players, particularly the lanky bowlers and batsmen. The cricket fraternity has seen tall fast bowlers troubling the batsmen, courtesy of their ability to extract extra bounce from the pitch. This makes it much tough for the batsmen to read the delivery in the first place.
There are chances of batsmen playing mistimed shots leading to dismissals. Tall batsmen have the upper hand as it helps them to cover more ground with their reach, letting them play shots when the balls are pitched shot or wide, something that shorter batters find difficult to deal with. This goes to show that height is an added advantage in cricket.
However, one should note that cricket is a sport that values a wide range of deftness and attributes. Even some of the shortest cricketers braved the challenges and went on to colour their respective careers by letting their performances do the talking.
In this article, let us now take a glimpse at the 10 shortest cricketers in the world:
| No. | Player | Team | Height (in Feet) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kruger van Wyk | New Zealand | 4.5 |
| 2 | Walter Cornford | England | 5 |
| 3 | Mushfiqur Rahim | Bangladesh | 5.25 |
| 4 | Parthiv Patel | India | 5.25 |
| 5 | Mominul Haque | Bangladesh | 5.28 |
| 6 | Gundappa Vishwanath | India | 5.3 |
| 7 | Temba Bavuma | South Africa | 5.4 |
| 8 | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 5.41 |
| 9 | Kedar Jadhav | India | 5.41 |
| 10 | Tatenda Taibu | Zimbabwe | 5.41 |
10. Tatenda Taibu – 5.41 ft
Tatendra Taibu is one of the shortest cricketers in the world as he stands 5.41 feet tall. He plied as a wicketkeeper-batsman for the Zimbabwe national cricket team. Despite being short, he was street-smart behind the stumps and incredibly quick while running between the wickets. He scored 1546 runs in 28 Tests and 3393 runs in 150 ODIs.
9. Kedar Jadhav – 5.41 ft
Kedar Jadhav’s height is 5.41 feet. Known for his unique bowling action, he was best known for taking wickets in clutch moments. His last international appearance came against New Zealand in 2020 and since then, he fell out of the selectors’ radar. represented India in 73 ODIs and 9 T20Is, scoring 1389 runs and 122 runs in the respective formats.
8. Sachin Tendulkar – 5.41 ft
Sachin Tendulkar is widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman in the history of the sport. The Indian batting great stands 5.41 feet but he didn’t care about his height as he kept going about his work in his career. Notably, he made the sport popular and signed off his career with multiple awards alongside the leading run-scorer in international cricket with 34,357 runs.
7. Temba Bavuma – 5.40 ft
Temba Bavuma is the current skipper of the South African cricket team in Tests and ODIs. The Cape Town-born stands 5.4 feet tall. At times, he struggled to dictate the terms with the bat. Despite his limitations, he has grown into a valuable batsman for Proteas. He scored 2997 runs in 56 Tests, 1150 runs in 26 ODIs and 635 runs in 33 T20Is.
6. Gundappa Vishwanath – 5.3 ft
Gundappa Vishwanath was one of the vital cogs of India’s middle-order department during the heydays of his career and his height is 5.3 feet. Rated as one of India’s finest batsmen throughout the 1970s, he scored 6080 runs in 91 Tests including 14 centuries and 15 fifties. He aggregated 439 runs in 25 ODIs including 2 half-centuries.
5. Mominul Haque – 5.28 ft
Mominul Haque showcased his mettle in his Test debut series against Sri Lanka wherein he scored 153 runs in 3 innings including a fifty on his debut. He fell out of the selectors’ radar in ODI and T20I set-up but is still an active feature in Tests. His height is 5.28 feet. The southpaw scored 3791 runs in 57 Tests, 557 in 28 ODIs and 60 runs in 6 T20Is.
4. Parthiv Patel – 5.25 ft
Parthiv Patel announced his arrival as a wicket-keeper batsman for India in 2002. The former Indian cricketer’s height is 5.25 feet. The Ahmedabad-born became the youngest wicket-keeper to represent a country in Test cricket. With the emergence of MS Dhoni, Parthiv Patel’s chance of becoming the first-choice keeper for India diminished.
3. Mushfiqur Rahim – 5.25 ft
Mushfiqur Rahim served as a captain and vice-captain of the Bangladesh cricket team. The experienced campaigner has been one of the batting mainstays of the team’s middle order. He has time and again played carrying knocks to put the team in a strong zone. His height is 5.25 feet. He scored 5553 runs in 86 Tests, 7257 runs in ODIs and 1500 runs in T20Is.
2. Walter Cornford – 5 ft
Walter Cornford was one of the smallest wicketkeepers to play in first-class cricket. The late cricketer was 5 feet tall and was a regular feature for English County Sussex from 1921 till 1939. He piled up 6554 runs in 496 games with an average of 14.96 including 16 fifties. Walter represented England in 4 Tests wherein he scored 96 runs.
1. Kruger van Wyk – 4.75 ft
Former New Zealand cricketer Kruger van Wyk features on top of the list as he stands 4.75 feet tall. For the record, he played professionally in South Africa and New Zealand. The South African-born played nine Tests so far wherein he scored 341 runs including 1 fifty. As a wicketkeeper, he took 23 catches and effected one stumping.
Read More: Top 10 tallest cricketers of all-time
