The Gloves Club: Wicketkeeper-Batters Who Shaped the IPL

In the early days of Twenty20, a wicketkeeper was picked to keep wicket, and anything he scored was a bonus. The IPL changed that. Because teams can only field four overseas players, a keeper who can also bat in the top order or finish an innings saves a place in the side for someone else. Over 18 seasons, the player behind the stumps has become one of the most important in any IPL team.

MS Dhoni: the captain behind the stumps

No one has shaped the IPL more from behind the stumps than MS Dhoni. He led Chennai Super Kings from their first season in 2008, won five titles and taken more dismissals than any other keeper in the league's history. His lightning stumpings and calm finishing in run chases became part of the IPL's identity. Even in 2025, at 43, he was still keeping wicket, and took over as captain again after Ruturaj Gaikwad was injured.

Adam Gilchrist: the first great keeper-captain

Australia's Adam Gilchrist showed early what a keeper-batter could do in the IPL. In 2008 he hit a 42-ball hundred for Deccan Chargers against Mumbai Indians. A year later, when the tournament moved to South Africa, he captained Deccan to the title and was named player of the tournament.

Dinesh Karthik: seventeen seasons, six teams

Dinesh Karthik played in every IPL season from 2008 to 2024, for Delhi, Punjab, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gujarat Lions and Kolkata. He captained Kolkata between 2018 and 2020, but his best-known years came late in his career. As a finisher for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2022, his hitting in the final overs earned him a recall to India's T20 World Cup squad at the age of 37.

Sanju Samson: Rajasthan's captain

Sanju Samson made his IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals as a teenager in 2013 and was named Emerging Player of the season. After two years with Delhi, he returned to Rajasthan, and in 2021 he became captain, marking his first game in charge with 119 against Punjab Kings. A year later he led Rajasthan to their first final since 2008.

Rishabh Pant: the comeback

Rishabh Pant was Emerging Player of the season in 2018 and became Delhi Capitals captain in 2021. In December 2022 he was badly hurt in a car accident and missed the whole of the 2023 season. He returned in 2024, and at the 2025 mega auction Lucknow Super Giants made him the most expensive player in IPL history, at ₹27 crore. After a difficult first season in Lucknow, he finished it with an unbeaten hundred against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Buttler and Klaasen: the overseas keepers

Because of the four-overseas rule, a foreign keeper has to be a match-winning batter to get picked. Jos Buttler is a good example. At Rajasthan he mostly opened the batting while Samson kept wicket, and in 2022 he scored 863 runs with four hundreds, matching Virat Kohli's record of four in one season. He joined Gujarat Titans in 2025 and took the gloves there.

Heinrich Klaasen of Sunrisers Hyderabad specialises in the middle overs, when spinners usually control the game. He hits them out of the attack, and Sunrisers valued him so highly that they retained him for ₹23 crore before the 2025 auction, the most any team paid to keep a player. He finished that season with a 37-ball hundred against Kolkata.

The gloves club at a glance

Stats in this story are correct to the end of the 2025 IPL season.