Evolutions

Pak_cricketer

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There have been many players who have "Evovled" over the years. Just looking at the Pakistani team. Afridi used to be a full-time bowler, can now bat anywhere and bowl part-time spells. Shoaib Malik, who was an Saqlain Mushtaq copy, used to come in at number XI, and couldn't hold a bat, and now after his Doosra got banned :mad he is our opener, and bats with great skill, and a handy ODI choice. Dont Forget Razzaq, Im sure he is the only one who has batted in all of the spots. He has opened, come 1 down, 2 down, 3 down, 4 down, 5 down, 6 down, 7 down, 8 down, 9 down, and in the time of Wasim Akram he came 10th or 11th.

Im sure there have been other "Evolutions" in Cricket. They are quite Fasinating.
 
Matthew Hoggard used to hopless with the bat at No.11 when he first started, now Englan's first choice nightwatchman for his gritiness and defensive wall.
 
DJ Ager said:
Matthew Hoggard used to hopless with the bat at No.11 when he first started, now Englan's first choice nightwatchman for his gritiness and defensive wall.

Sorry but I rate Hoggard as one of the most useless batsman ever. He even gets out when being a nightwatchman!

Freddie started off a slogger who bowled a bit of medium-fast, but is now a genuinely quick bowler who could get in the team if he scored nothing with the bat. His batting is much more mature aswell.
 
Irfan Pathan is also a classic example, evolving from just being a bowler to a budding allrounder. It has had a few adverse effects, with his bowling slightly suffering, but being only 21 or 22, he should eventually cope with that.
 
Pathan definitely came to my mind. One maybe not so many knew about: Virender Sehwag. Started his cricketing career as an off-spin bowler who batted in the middle order and look where he is now.
 
sohummisra said:
Pathan definitely came to my mind. One maybe not so many knew about: Virender Sehwag. Started his cricketing career as an off-spin bowler who batted in the middle order and look where he is now.

Hmm, didn't know that, pretty interesting. Sehwag now averages 52.12 for tests !

Another one that a few may not know. Sachin Tendulkar, who in his early cricketing career was keen on becoming a pace bowler (a fast one at that), but on advice, decided not to due to his height, and looked instead to batting.

And look where he is now...!
 
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Thanks for that Andrew, at least i'm not the only one who thinks so.

I'm not sure about this, but did Cameron White start his career as a specialist spinner?
 
Mark Richardson started out as a spinner batting at number 11. (Bear in mind, this is domestically even)

He ended up being one of our most sucessful test batsmen ever. Opening the batting.

A few of our players started down the order. Styris was one.
 
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I think Ajit Agarkar was trying to become a batsman but Sachin saw him bowl and told him to concentrate more on his bowling as he was better at that (don't know why he listened). I don't know if this is true but he is a good bowler who can sometimes pull off a good performance with the bat now.
 
Cameron White was selected for his spinning. But his batting has come along nicely while his spin hasn't. Andy Bichel has evolved into a decent allrounder of late.
 

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