LUCKYSPIRE

Jacques Kallis

India · Left-arm orthodox · All-rounder

Jacques Henry Kallis represented South Africa Cricket in 238 of his 345 career matches and also featured for Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Trinidad And Tobago Red Steel, Sydney Thunder and others in franchise cricket. Across all formats he scored 15,293 runs at a batting average of 45.25 and took 310 wickets at 34.55, a dual return few players in the data come close to matching. His primary competition is the One-Day International, where he played 138 times and averaged 46.07 with the bat. On recent form, his last 10 appearances in the Big Bash League and Caribbean Premier League through 2015 and early 2016 produced modest batting scores, with only a 49 not out against Adelaide Strikers on 28 December 2015 showing his better qualities in the final stretch of that sample.

Matches
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Runs
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Wickets
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Explore Full Stats
Jacques Kallis
Bat Avg
45.3
Bowl Avg
34.5

2026 Season Context

Current team & role

Kolkata Knight Riders · All-Rounder

Recent form

Kallis' last 10 appearances, spread across the Caribbean Premier League and Big Bash League in 2015 and early 2016, brought limited returns with the bat: scores of 28, 13, 7, 16, 0, 49 not out, 8, 8,

Strongest format

One-Day International — ODIs are listed as Kallis' primary competition, and across 138 matches he averaged 46.07 with the bat at a strike rate of 76.38, alongside 92 wickets

Career stats overview

89 Test · 138 ODI · 118 T20I appearances — spanning 2009 to present.

Test

89 matches

7,405
Runs scored
141
Wickets taken

Where his legacy was forged — the format that rewards patience and precision.

ODI

138 matches

4,929
Runs scored
92
Wickets taken

The middle-overs architect — a decade of white-ball consistency.

T20I

118 matches

2,959
Runs scored
77
Wickets taken

Brief but impactful — quality over volume in the shortest format.

Format-aware deep dive

Where he dominates

Home record

215
wickets

Average 21.4 on Indian soil — better than any active spinner of the era.

Fourth-innings force

112
wickets

A third of his Test wickets come on day five, when bowlers decide outcomes.

Lower-order resilience

38.4
batting avg

At No.7 his average beats every Indian specialist in that slot since 2015.

Elite opposition

198
wkts in 48 M

Combined record vs Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa.

Consistency

14
five-wicket hauls

Third-most by any Indian bowler since his Test debut.

WTC presence

2
finals played

In the conversation every cycle. Central to this India red-ball side.

Career threads

Beyond the numbers

A rare double across all formats

Across 345 career appearances, Kallis accumulated 15,293 runs at an average of 45.25 and claimed 310 wickets at 34.55. That volume of contribution with both bat and ball across Tests, ODIs and T20s is exceptional in the data.

Test record stands as his statistical peak

In 89 Test matches, Kallis averaged 54.85 with the bat and returned figures of 141 wickets at an economy of 2.91 per over. His bowling average of 34.03 in that format is his best across all competitions.

Dominant numbers against India

In 31 matches against India Cricket, Kallis scored 2,249 runs at a batting average of 68.15. That is his highest average against any of the major Test nations he has faced across his career.

Newlands is his strongest venue by some distance

At Newlands, Kallis averaged 63.07 with the bat across 26 matches, scoring 1,892 runs. He also took 35 wickets there at an economy of 3.19, making it comfortably his most productive ground in both disciplines.

Recent BBL spell produced modest returns

In six Big Bash League appearances for Sydney Thunder in the 2015-16 season, Kallis passed 28 only once and his highest score was an unbeaten 49 against Adelaide Strikers on 28 December 2015. Three wickets came at an economy varying between 5.0 and 8.0 per over across those outings.

Head-to-head

Vs opponents

Career totals broken down by the teams JH Kallis has faced most often, heat-scaled by output.

England

Matches
39
Runs
1,804
Wickets
43

Australia

Matches
38
Runs
2,021
Wickets
38

Pakistan

Matches
37
Runs
2,110
Wickets
43

India

Matches
31
Runs
2,249
Wickets
28

West Indies

Matches
31
Runs
1,838
Wickets
23

New Zealand

Matches
29
Runs
1,240
Wickets
23

Chennai Super Kings

Matches
14
Runs
320
Wickets
10

Delhi Capitals

Matches
14
Runs
338
Wickets
11

Grounds played at

Home & away grounds

The venues where JH Kallis has turned out most often.

Newlands, Cape Town

Matches
26
Runs
1,892
Wickets
35

Kingsmead, Durban

Matches
24
Runs
1,033
Wickets
24

New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Matches
24
Runs
1,281
Wickets
28

SuperSport Park, Centurion

Matches
23
Runs
1,201
Wickets
24

Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Matches
23
Runs
802
Wickets
13

M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

Matches
16
Runs
388
Wickets
13

St George's Park, Port Elizabeth

Matches
13
Runs
542
Wickets
6

Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain

Matches
10
Runs
344
Wickets
8

Official profile

Elsewhere on the web

ESPNcricinfo

JH Kallis's profile

Historical aggregates derived from Cricsheet (cricsheet.org) under ODC-BY licence. 2001/02–2026 IPL seasons. Batting average uses dismissals as the denominator; bowler wickets are credited only for bowler-kind dismissals (bowled, caught, lbw, caught-and-bowled, stumped, hit wicket). Venue and opposition splits are rebuilt after every ingest from the Cricsheet archive.

Photo credits (1)
  • Jacques Kallis — photo by Kolkata Knight Riders - Official, CC BY 3.0 · source