10 cricketers who started out in a completely different role

There are a few cricketers who have found their niche since the day they held the bat or ball for the first time. However, some cricketers are so talented (or not) that they played a completely different role than what they started off with when twilight dawned on their illustrious careers. Let us have a look at a few of the latter; you may be surprised by some of the role reversals they've gone through!NOTE: It is commonly believed that Sanath Jayasuriya was selected in the Sri Lankan team primarily as a spinner and then made it through the ranks as an aggressive opening batsman. However, this is far from the truth.  Jayasuriya started his career as a lower-order batsman who was seen to be moderately adept at rolling his arm over in the sub-continent, but never as a specialist bowler who could bat. The fact that he bowled 9 overs in his first 10 ODIs and just one spell of 6 overs in his first 6 Tests, with most of these matches away from the subcontinent, is testament to this fact.

#1 Asif Iqbal

Many of you might consider and remember Asif Iqbal as a bowler. And indeed, he made his first impression as one. But coming to bat at No. 10 in his first ever innings, he stroked a well-composed 41 and was immediately rewarded with a shot at one drop by legendary batsman Hanif Mohammed. Though he scored a fine 36, he was back to batting below the keeper at No. 7 and 8, occasionally even 9.  

His big break came in the third Test on the tour to England in 1967, when he came into bat at 7-53 which soon became 8-65. An innings defeat loomed large, but where the whole team faltered, Iqbal stood tall among the ruins and stroked his way to a sublime 146.

Things took a U-Turn from then on. Iqbal turned from a pure new-ball bowler to a bowling all-rounder to a batting all-rounder. By the time he was done, he was a pure batsman who did not bowl at all (more specifically he did not bring in himself to bowl as captain). His bowling credentials were nowhere near bad, he finished with over 50 wickets at under 30-a-piece. However, he had 11 hundreds and 12 fifties, all when the going was tough at No.5 or 6 and lead the team to many victories and draws.

He played merely 10 ODIs and astonishingly scored 5 fifties, a ratio of 1 in 2 matches. He did come on to bowl in the shorter formats, though, and had 16 scalps at 23.82. Of course, he did not bowl with the new ball – Sarfaraz Nawaz and Imran Khan had formed one of the most formidable opening pair by then.