5 players who could become great all-rounders if given the chance
All-rounders have always fascinated the cricket fans because of their 3-dimensional abilities. Andrew Flintoff’s exceptional performance in the 2005 Ashes is still imbibed in cricket aficionados memory as he dismantled the opposition not only with his fiery bowling but also contributed some useful runs with the bat.One pertinent question regarding the all-rounders has been which player qualifies to be called an all-rounder. One theory in response to the question has been that an all-rounder should be able to get into the team as a batsman as well as a bowler.Statistically, an all-rounder should ideally have his bowling average lower than his batting average. Cricket has seen some great all-rounders like Kapil Dev, Garfield Sobers, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Richard Headley, Jacques Kallis. Currently, the league of all-rounders has names like Shakib Al Hasan, Shane Watson, Ben Stokes, Corey Anderson, Angelo Mathews, Mitchell Marsh, Dwayne Bravo etc. But more names could prop up in this list if given adequate chances. Here are they:
#1 Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin is one guy who bats with so much ease that it is sometimes hard to believe that his primary role in the team is that of a bowler. An opener in his early cricketing days, he has a lot of class when he bats as seen in the numerous games he has played.
He has already passed the 1000 run mark in Tests with 1009 runs in 25 Tests at an impressive average of 36.03 with a couple of centuries. With India willing to play five bowlers in Test cricket and ODIs, Ashwin’s role is surely going to change.
There are multifarious advantages of playing him at number seven some of them being that India can afford an extra seamer in overseas conditions and an extra spinner in Indian conditions which adds a lot of penetration to the bowling. With the talent he has, he can surely become one of the better all-rounders in the world if given the chance.