Ravichandran Ashwin, five bowlers who started their career as the batsman
Ravichandran Ashwin. Image Credit: Getty Images.

Ravichandran Ashwin:

Saqlain Mushtaq, Ravichandran Ashwin, T20 World Cup
Ravichandran Ashwin. Photo Credit: Getty Images.

Ravichandran Ashwin is, currently, the best off-spinner India has in the red-ball cricket. He made the debut for Team India in 2010 after impressing the team management with his bowling in the Champions League for Chennai Super Kings.

However, he is now a prominent bowler, but he started his career as the batsman. In fact, he had opened the batting in Under-17 cricket before he turned out as an off-spinner for Tamil Nadu. Perhaps, he is still a beneficial lower-order batsman in the most extended format of the game.

Talking about his credentials, he has scored 2389 runs, including four centuries and eleven half-centuries, in 71 Test matches, picking 365 wickets. Although Ashwin has been dropped from the white-ball cricket, he has 675 runs in 111 ODIs and has scalped 150 wickets. In T20Is, he has dismissed 52 batsmen in 46 matches. He last played for Indian in shorter formats in 2017.