So you have batsmen and bowlers. While everyone has to bat, the bowlers come down the order since they have lesser ability to bat Although all batsmen don't have to bowl. Now in modern cricket it is important that the lower order batsmen score some runs, sometimes it can be very vital and difference between the win and loss of a match or saving a test match(i.e. draw).
The advantage of lower order batsmen having some ability with the bat is paramount. Harbhajan Singh once scored and century and saved India from losing a test match against New Zealand. He got the man of the match in that particular match for his batting performance.Had it not been for Harbhajan's and Zaheer's batting ability, India won't have been able to beat Australia in the Chennai Test in 2001 and win the series against them.
There are many such occasions in cricket where lower order batting has changed the game. So all bowlers take batting seriously this days and rarely today anyone finds a bowler who is not able to bat at all. However across the entire history of world cricket there have been players who are good at both, batting and bowling. They have contributed with the bat and contributed with the ball as well. This band of cricketers are known as allrounders.
The greatest among all the allrounders is without a doubt the great Sir Garfield Sobers of West Indies. Almost every test playing nation have produced good allrounders. An allrounder gives the team an extra batsman or an extra bowler.
There are two types of allrounders batting allrounders and bowling allrounders. Players whose batting is their major strength are batting allrounders, they can bowl as well. Bowling allrounders are the ones for whom bowling is the main weapon and they can score runs as well. However most allrounders are in the team for one of the skills. Incase a bowling allrounder is injured and won't be able to bowl, then he would most likely loose his place in the team till he recovers. Since he won't be able to replace any top order batsman to be in the team just to play as a batsman. Same in case of a batting allrounder.
However players like Garfield Sobers, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Sir Richardson Hadlee, Ian Botham etc were genuine allrounders. They could have played in the team either as a batsman or as a bowler. Such players are rare. In recent times Chris Crains of New Zealand and Shakib ul Hasan of Bangladesh can be regarded as genuine allrounders since they could have played for their respective national team either as a batsman or as a bowler.
Such genuine allrounders are very rare and important, a team that has more allrounders have more chances of winning. When India won the 1983 cricket world cup, there were many allrounders in the team. Except Kapil Dev most of them were spin or medium pace bowlers, but their style of bowling suited the English conditions. India was able to beat the then mighty West Indies because of them. Mohinder Amarnath, a medium pacer was the man of the match in the finals.
However these days due to increase in the number of matches that are being played, we rarely get to see genuine allrounders. One just hopes to see more genuine allrounders in the future, whether bowling or batting they are always exciting to watch and add a lot of value to the game.
The advantage of lower order batsmen having some ability with the bat is paramount. Harbhajan Singh once scored and century and saved India from losing a test match against New Zealand. He got the man of the match in that particular match for his batting performance.Had it not been for Harbhajan's and Zaheer's batting ability, India won't have been able to beat Australia in the Chennai Test in 2001 and win the series against them.
There are many such occasions in cricket where lower order batting has changed the game. So all bowlers take batting seriously this days and rarely today anyone finds a bowler who is not able to bat at all. However across the entire history of world cricket there have been players who are good at both, batting and bowling. They have contributed with the bat and contributed with the ball as well. This band of cricketers are known as allrounders.
The greatest among all the allrounders is without a doubt the great Sir Garfield Sobers of West Indies. Almost every test playing nation have produced good allrounders. An allrounder gives the team an extra batsman or an extra bowler.
There are two types of allrounders batting allrounders and bowling allrounders. Players whose batting is their major strength are batting allrounders, they can bowl as well. Bowling allrounders are the ones for whom bowling is the main weapon and they can score runs as well. However most allrounders are in the team for one of the skills. Incase a bowling allrounder is injured and won't be able to bowl, then he would most likely loose his place in the team till he recovers. Since he won't be able to replace any top order batsman to be in the team just to play as a batsman. Same in case of a batting allrounder.
However players like Garfield Sobers, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Sir Richardson Hadlee, Ian Botham etc were genuine allrounders. They could have played in the team either as a batsman or as a bowler. Such players are rare. In recent times Chris Crains of New Zealand and Shakib ul Hasan of Bangladesh can be regarded as genuine allrounders since they could have played for their respective national team either as a batsman or as a bowler.
Such genuine allrounders are very rare and important, a team that has more allrounders have more chances of winning. When India won the 1983 cricket world cup, there were many allrounders in the team. Except Kapil Dev most of them were spin or medium pace bowlers, but their style of bowling suited the English conditions. India was able to beat the then mighty West Indies because of them. Mohinder Amarnath, a medium pacer was the man of the match in the finals.
However these days due to increase in the number of matches that are being played, we rarely get to see genuine allrounders. One just hopes to see more genuine allrounders in the future, whether bowling or batting they are always exciting to watch and add a lot of value to the game.
