5 Players who started their career as batsman but became bowlers

There is a lot of talk about how Steve Smith transformed himself from a leg-spinner to a world-class batsman. He started out as a No. 7/8 but over the years, his bowling reduced and his bat picked up the pace. Hence, today he is the world’s best batsman, at least in Test cricket. Thus, we often hear such cases where players started out as bowlers but eventually found success with the bat.

However, we don’t often talk about the vice-versa condition. There have been a lot of players who gave up their dreams with the bat only to realize their maximum potential with the ball. They have created huge impact with the ball in hand at the highest level.

Here we bring to you five such players who started their careers as batsmen but became bowlers:

1. Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the most prominent faces in Indian cricket at the moment. It’s been almost a decade since he made his international debut. He got a chance to play for India on the back of some consistent performances in the IPL and domestic cricket.

However, the Tamil Nadu off-spinner first started out as a batsman. In fact, he has opened the batting in professional cricket quite a few times. He opened the batting in Under-17 cricket before he turned out as an off-spinner for Tamil Nadu.

The move paid rich dividends as Ashwin is one of the most successful bowlers in Indian cricket in this decade. He was India’s premier spinner across formats for a long time before being ousted from the shorter formats. Ashwin is still a very big part of India’s red-ball setup and hence, will look to continue to make a significant impact every time he plays.