Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's bowling stint on the second day of the first Test at Lord's yesterday is not the first time he has turned his arm over in international cricket. He also bowled one over at Faisalabad in 2006.


MS Dhoni. Pic/AFP

In fact, Dhoni claimed the wicket of West Indies' Travis Dowlin in the ICC Champions Trophy ODI tournament at Johannesburg in 2009. Though he was the third regular wicketkeeper to take a wicket in ODIs, Dhoni's feat was unique as he had also snapped up two catches behind the stumps in the same match.

But the honour of being the first Indian wicketkeeper to take a wicket in Test cricket goes to Syed Kirmani. He achieved this feat by claiming the scalp of Pakistan's Azeem Hafeez at Nagpur in 1983.

England's AC (Alan Smith) performed the unique first-class feat of a 'keeper taking a hat-trick with the ball when playing for Warwickshire in the county championship in 1965 and ended his career with 131 wickets with his medium pace bowling. But he never got a chance to bowl during his six Test matches for England in the 1960s.