Unorthodox but effective players

They say you need technique to survive at the international level in cricket, but there are many cricketers with very unique and unorthodox styles of playing who still are very effective and successful in international cricket. Here are some of the players who are currently playing international cricket with such gifted abilities:

Shivnarine Chanderpaul

The West Indian batsman proved that there’s life beyond coaching manuals. A possessor of the most peculiar batting stance, bowlers around the world have found it so difficult to bowl at him. Even with his unusual stance and technique, he has scored lots of runs in international cricket, and became the only second West Indian to join 10,000 club in test matches.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

The current Indian skipper is one of the most dynamic batsman around. Dhoni turned coaching manuals upside down with his originality, and has his own way of going about the game. Harsha Bhogle once described Sachin’s cover drive saying: “Open text book, turn page no. 32.” If we had to describe MSD’s technique, it would be like: “Open text book, turn page no. 32, tear the page, throw the book and play as u like.” Unusual yet effective, he has an average above 50 in one day internationals and a decent test average considering the fact that he is a wicket-keeper batsman.

Lasith Malinga

Lasith Malinga has a unique round-arm bowling action, where the ball is near the umpire’s chest at the point of delivery. Batsmen around the world find it so difficult to play against him as they have no clue whatsoever about the trajectory of the ball. He is fondly called “Slinga” by his fans. He is a genuine strike bowler with both the new ball and old, and with his ability to bowl in the blockhole so very consistently, is even more dangerous. No wonder Malinga is regarded as one of the best death bowlers in the world.

Sohail Tanvir

This young left arm pacer from Pakistan has a wrong-footed action, which has caused a lot of troubles to batsmen around the world.