5 cricketers who started as bowlers but became successful batters
Cricket is an unpredictable sport, but its unpredictability is not limited to on-field events. In certain cases, some cricketers gave up their primary skill and mastered a secondary one to make a name
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4. Shoaib Malik
Shoaib Malik hung up his boots in ODIs after a disastrous World Cup campaign. Throughout the 22 years of his career, Malik had made a name for himself as a reliable middle-order batter. He made his international debut against West Indies as an off-spinner at the age of 17 years.
He had a bowling action similar to Saqlain Mushtaq and could even bowl the ‘doosra’. His bowling action came under suspicion during 2004 before it was cleared a few months later. However, the team persisted with him because of his batting talent. He made a Test hundred against Sri Lanka as an opener.
One peculiar aspect about Malik was his mind-boggling flexibility. He performed as an opener, scored at No. 3 batter, did well as middle-order batter and even played as a successful finisher. He has scored 7534 runs in 287 ODIs at an average of 34.55 along with 158 wickets to his name. Malik was recognised as a better batter than a bowler as his career progressed; so much so that he was not even considered as a proper bowling option in the latter stages of his career.