Not Rishabh Pant, Mohammad Azharuddin labels this player as 'No.1 wicketkeeper in the world'

Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin showered praise on ex-teammate Syed Kirmani, who was the wicketkeeper in the team that came out victorious in the 1983 ODI World Cup. Azharuddin labelled Kirmani as the 'No.1 wicketkeeper in the world' and further remarked that the latter played a big role in the side's first-ever Woprld Cup triumph.

Notably, both Azharuddin and Kirmani shared the Indian dressing room and played alongside each other on many occasions. However, their time in the team together didn't last for long as while the former made bhis debut in 1985, the latter retired from international cricket just a year later in 1986

“He is the number one wicket-keeper in the world. Such a wicket-keeper was never born. It was not easy for him to do wicketkeeping with four spinners. He took many good catches in the World Cup in 1983. Even in the match when Kapil scored 175 runs, he scored a crucial 24 runs. I am very happy to attend this event today. May God give him a long life. People should also read this book and enjoy it, and I hope it is successful," Azharuddin said at the launch of Kirmani’s autobiography.

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Kirmani has released his auobiography titled ‘Stumped: Life Behind and Beyond The Twenty-Two Yards’. The former wicketkeeper-batter, who made his debut for India in 1976, was a key figure in the side's playing XI for many years. With a total of 198 dismissals for India in Test cricket, Kirmani also holds the record for the joint-most stumpings by an Indian wicketkeeper in the red-ball cricket. Both him and MS Dhoni have 38 stumpings each in the longest format.

Kirmani played many Test and one-day matches for India

Meanwhile, Kirmani featured for India in a total of 88 Tests and 49 ODIs, scoring 2759 and 373 runs in the two formats respectively. The former wicketkeeper-batter scored 2 hundreds and 12 fifties in red-ball cricket and played a part in some of India's greatest victories in the format.

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Additionally, Kirmani has a great record in first-class cricket. He featured in 275 games in the format, scoring 9620 runs, including 13 centuries and 38 half-centuries. He maintained a decent average of 30.15 and his highest individual score in the format was 161.