An all-rounder holds a crucial position in a cricket XI. Every team now is now dependent on balance, and if not for all-rounders, this won’t be achievable. In this article, we take a look at six active all-rounders who bat left-handed but bowl with the right hand.
Since an all-rounder has to contribute to both departments, it’s necessary that he is comfortable in both roles. However, we have seen a few contrasting cases wherein an all-rounder uses different hands for different departments. This is interesting considering most players use their favoured hand to perform their job on a cricket field.
1) Ben Stokes – One Of the Most Popular All-Rounders Who Bat Left-Handed But Bowl With Right Hand
In fact, arguably the best all-rounder in world cricket right now – Ben Stokes is also an all-rounder who bowls with the right hand but uses his left hand as his main support while batting. Yet, Stokes has been effective in both departments, of course, more so with the willow. While he happens to be a genuine batsman, Stokes is also a useful bowler. Although he is used more in the middle-overs, Stokes also has the skills for bowling at the death.
2) Jimmy Neesham
New Zealand’s Jimmy Neesham is also an example of this case. A hard-hitting batsman, Neesham is also a fine bowler, although this aspect could be improved in the coming years. Nevertheless, having proved himself in various tournaments, Neesham is now rated very highly. He recently also earned an IPL contract by Mumbai Indians for IPL 2021.
3) Washington Sundar – One Of the Upcoming All-Rounders Who Bat Left-Handed But Bowl With Right Hand
One of India’s rising all-rounders, Washington Sundar, is also a player who bats left-handed but bowls with his right arm. Washi’s case is strange in the Indian Team, at the moment. In the longer format, the youngster has shown good form with the bat but has not been able to make a mark with the ball. On the other hand, in the limited-overs fixtures, Sundar is more of a bowler than a batsman. If he can somehow settle this confusion, there is a long career ahead of him.
4) Moeen Ali
A top performer in T20Is, Moeen Ali is a big-hitting left-handed batsman while also being a wily right-arm off-spinner. He is a multi-utility cricketer, and although he is in and out of the English squads, Moeen is popular in the T20 leagues. He started well in IPL 2021 for CSK but might miss the second phase of the tournament.
5) Sunil Narine
Sunil Narine started out as a pure mystery spinner and he achieved massive success with it. Just when batsmen were starting to pick him, Narine came up with another dimension to him as a cricketer. He added some big-hitting repertoire to his game and scored decent success with it at the start. It just needs to be seen if both these can co-exist and produce dividends for a longer duration of time.
6) Rahul Tewatia
Rahul Tewatia became famous for his performance in one of the games in IPL 2020. He scored five sixes in a single over and helped Rajasthan clinch an unlikely victory. Even this cricketer is someone who bowls with this right hand but takes up his bat with the left arm.
