Batters are an important part of any team and many matches are won by batsmen on the strength of their batting. These are the main pillars of the team, but sometimes these batsmen help the team to win matches by bowling apart from batting. These bowlers take wickets at crucial times which proves to be the turning point for the match at times.
There have been many such batsmen in world cricket so far who have contributed to the victory of their team even as a bowler. Today in this article, we take a look at the 4 legendary batsman in the world who were equally good in bowling as batting.
Chris Gayle
As soon as the name of Chris Gayle comes to mind, everyone starts remembering long sixes, which is his natural game. Gayle has created a new definition of batting, who has more faith in his sixes, not on singles and doubles. An example of this has been seen in leagues around the world including the IPL.
However, apart from batting, Chris Gayle’s bowling record has also been good. With his right arm off spin, he has given the West Indies team a break through many times. You may not believe it but he has taken 5 wickets 3 times in Test and ODI cricket. At the same time, his economy rate has also been good in all three formats. He has near-about 150 wickets in international cricket.
Andrew Symonds
The late great Andrew Symonds was also a famous attacking batsman of his time. He was known to score runs at fast pace. Symonds would not give the bowlers a chance to settle down and used to play strokes as soon as he arrived. Apart from batting, Symonds also used to bowl very well. He was able to bowl medium pace and right arm off break.
His variety of deliveries was always a trouble to read for the batters, for which he proved to be the trump card for the Australian team many times. Symonds did not play much Test cricket but he bowled well in the limited overs game. Symonds took 133 wickets in ODI cricket.
Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Jayasuriya was an aggressive batsman. He used to score fast paced runs in the first 10 overs while opening the batting. He used to give the team a very quick start, which made it easy for the incoming batters after him. But do you know that Sanath Jayasuriya was as much a dangerous bowler as he was an explosive batsman.
Jayasuriya took 320 wickets in 441 matches in his career. He is Sri Lanka’s third highest wicket-taker in One Day Internationals. At the same time, he has 98 wickets in 110 test matches.
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar, as soon as his name comes, a flurry of records starts revolving in our mind. There will be only a few batting records which may not have Sachin’s name in the list. During his long cricket career, Sachin was the first to score double hundred and he also holds the record for 100 Hundreds in international cricket.
He set a new dimension in batting in cricket. He is called the God of Cricket not because of just anything. But, while he was so good with bat, he was equally good with the ball as well. Sachin has a little more than 200 wickets to his name, of which, he has 154 wickets in the ODI format.
