In cricket, weak eyesight is not a big issue like other sports. The game has witnessed several cricketers wearing glasses during the game for better viewing and sighting of the ball. Not only batsman but bowlers also wore glasses when in the field. However, some, later in their career, shift to contact lenses.
The recent name in this list of spectacle-wearing player is Australia’s bowler Jack Leach. His teammate Ben Stokes had also teased him for cleaning his glasses again and again while they build a last-wicket exceptional 76 runs partnership, in which Leach scored only one run, against Australia at Leeds.
Here, in this article, we have named 10 bowlers who played in spectacles:
Narendra Hirwani:
Narendra Hirwani is mainly remembered for his performance on his Test debut against West Indies in Madras. In the under-prepared wicket, he clean bowled Sir Vivian Richards with a googly which bowler failed to do. He went on to pick eight wickets in the first match.
Wearing glasses and hand bands, he gained instant fame with his Test debut. He continued to be the leading wicket-taker in the next series against New Zealand at home. But he failed to repeat his stint in foreign lands, which is why he was dropped from the team. He was replaced in the team with the rise of Anil Kumble.
Hirwani played a total of 17 Tests and 18 ODIs for India. Though being dropped from the national team, didn’t stop him from notching wickets in domestic cricket. He snared 732 wickets in the 21-year first-class career in India.