6 bowlers who bowled both pace and spin in international cricket

By V. Chhabria Oct 31, 2021, 21:02 IST

Bowling is an art in cricket. Not everyone can master this art. Great players of the game like Lasith Malinga, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Kapil Dev, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Shaun Pollock, Shane Bond and several others achieved mastery in pace bowling. At the same time, the likes of Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Daniel Vettori and other bowlers were excellent as spin bowlers.

However, there have been some bowlers who have bowled both pace and spin in international cricket. In this article today, we will look at six such bowlers:

1. Andrew Symonds

Former Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds was a right-arm bowler. In some matches, Symonds bowled right-arm medium pace, while on some occasions, he bowled right-arm off-breaks. Overall, he took 165 wickets in his international career.

2. Garry Sobers

Sir Garry Sobers had three bowling styles. He owns the record for the most wickets by a bowler who can bowl with different styles. Sobers took 236 international wickets for West Indies by bowling left-arm pace, left-arm wrist spin and slow left-arm.

3. Tony Greig

Former England all-rounder Tony Greig also had multiple bowling styles. He bowled right-arm medium and right-arm off-break for England. Greig took 160 wickets in 80 international games.

4. Paras Khadka

Former Nepal captain Paras Khadka scalped 17 wickets in 43 international appearances for his country. Like Tony Greig, Khadka also bowled right-arm medium pace and right-arm off-spin.

5. Calum MacLeod

Current Scotland cricketer Calum MacLeod is one of the bowlers who bowls right-arm medium-fast and right-arm off-spin. MacLeod has 15 international wickets to his name. He is currently playing for his country at the ICC T20 World Cup 2021.

6. Sunil Gavaskar

One of the most prominent names to feature on this unique list is former Indian cricket team batter Sunil Gavaskar. Nicknamed as Sunny, Gavaskar scored over 10,000 runs in Test cricket. He also scored more than 3,000 ODI runs. Gavaskar took two wickets in his international career for India. He is one of the few Indian bowlers to bowl right-arm medium and right-arm off-break.