Top 5 upcoming all-rounders in world cricket
The archetypal all-rounder had become a rare species since the retirement of Jacques Kallis, Shane Watson and Andrew Flintoff. But in the past few years, quite a few all-rounders have emerged in the international scene and many of them are quickly making rapid strides in world cricket.
Take the case of Ben Stokes, who smashed a spectacular double hundred for England against South Africa. He is a fiery pace bowler who troubled the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli in the recent Tests against India.
The likes of Shakib-al-Hasan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Chris Morris and Carlos Brathwaite have underlined their class as quality all-rounders several times in the last few years. But do the cricketing fraternity realise that there are ample young all-rounders coming to the fore and slowly making a name for themselves in international cricket?
Here we take a look at five young and upcoming all-rounders in world cricket and their contributions.
#5 Imad Wasim
The left-arm spinning all-rounder from Pakistan has been slowly establishing himself in the Pakistani limited overs sides with handy contributions. He is a tidy spinner, who keeps the run rate in check and can break partnerships. Apart from this, Wasim is also a good batsman to have in the lower middle order.
Wasim has played 18 ODIs thus far for Pakistan, accumulating runs in the lower order at an average of 36.88 with three half-centuries. He also has 23 wickets in the format with a best of 5/14. The all-rounder also has 21 scalps in 15 T20Is including a five-wicket haul.
Wasim has a first-class double hundred and might be the all-rounder Pakistan were searching for in their limited overs side post the eras of Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood.