
In modern cricket, a player who, being a batsman, can bowl is more valuable than a proper bowler who can bat.
This looks odd, but this is it.
Most of the time, part-time bowlers become proper batters, and that gives the team more benefit than bowlers who can bat a little.
One of the reasons is that now teams and players score huge runs — in ODIs we frequently see 300+, 320+ runs in an innings, centuries by players — so that way, more and more shots appear in the highlights. In T20, this is even more favored.
Like India had Yuvraj, who was a batter and helped when they needed him as a bowler.
Like Pakistan had Afridi, who turned out to be more of a batter than a bowler.
Travis Head in Australia, Duminy in South Africa, Markram in South Africa, Root and Livingstone in England.
Pakistan has now started using Saim Ayub as their new spin option, who has depth in varieties and can bowl leg spin with variation.
This is a recent trend — spin bowling, especially off-spinners, is not that effective in short-format cricket.
So the proper batters are starting to bowl spin, as it does not require heavy muscles.
want to read about the Comparison between Rizwan and Pant?
https://finecricket.com/rizwan-vs-pant-who-really-owns-the-gloves/
Player | Primary Role | Format | Matches / Innings | Batting Avg | Bowling Avg |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yuvraj Singh | Middle-order batsman | ODI | 304 / 278 | 36.56 | 38.68 |
Travis Head | Top-order batsman | ODI | 73 / 70 | 43.23 | 44.45 |
Shahid Afridi | Aggressive all-rounder | ODI | 398 / 369 | 23.58 | 34.51 |
Saim Ayub | Batsman / Off-break | ODI | — | 64.37 | 27.80 |
Dawid Malan | Top-order batsman | ODI | — | 55.76 | 17.00 |
Sanath Jayasuriya | Opening batsman & spinner | ODI | — | 32.36 | 36.75 |