These men are deadly with both their hands!
Cricket is a sport brimming with entertainment, with players consistently captivating audiences with their exceptional skills. Among the most intriguing are those who possess ambidextrous abilities, adept at both bowling and batting with different hands. Some left-arm pacers excel at batting right-handed, while others, in a league of their own, bowl with their right arm but bat left-handed. Although their names may not immediately spring to mind, these talented individuals have made a huge impact on the game. While over 300 ambidextrous cricketers have graced the sport's history, here's a curated list of the most renowned ambidextrous cricket stars.
One of the best all-around players in history, Lance Klusener is most known for coming dangerously close to leading South Africa to the 1999 World Cup finals. Klusener, a Durban native, debuted in a Test match against India in 1996. After that, he chose to bat left-handed and has played in 171 ODIs and 49 Test matches for South Africa. In one-day formats, he amassed 3576 runs at an average of 41.10, with a career high of 103*. In tests, he has four hundreds under his belt, with a peak score of 174. He was a right-arm medium-pace bowler who recorded 192 wickets in ODIs and 80 wickets in Test matches.
For almost ten years, Zaheer Khan led the Indian bowling team. He was a left-handed fast bowler who could swing the ball both ways and was skilled at using the old ball in reverse swing. In the 92 Test matches he participated in for India, Zaheer claimed 311 wickets. In 200 appearances, he claimed 282 wickets as a deadly ODI bowler. Zaheer was not your average tail-ender with plodding skills. In Test cricket, he has scored three fifties, the highest of which was 75 against Bangladesh. In addition to being promoted as a night watchman, he was a pinch hitter.
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Zaheer Khan Making an appeal after an LBW
The former Indian captain, commonly referred to as "Dada," has ambidextrous cricket talents. In limited forms, he was a potent left-handed batsman who frequently opened for India. Playing 311 ODIs, he scored a maximum score of 183 and accumulated 11,363 runs at an average of over 42. He made 7212 runs in 113 Tests, with a career best of 239 against Pakistan, demonstrating his exceptional middle order batting ability. Ganguly was a medium-pace right-arm bowler who occasionally filled in as the fifth bowling. He has a best of 5/16 in ODI cricket and has claimed 100 wickets. In Test matches, he has also claimed 32 wickets.
Michael Clarke, the World Cup-winning Australian captain, was known for his right-handed batting and slow left-arm spin bowling in international cricket. Clarke boasted an impressive record as a batsman who frequently contributed with crucial wickets. With 8643 runs in 115 Tests and 7981 runs in 245 ODIs, Clarke also achieved the milestone of scoring a triple century in Tests. Notably, he delivered an exceptional bowling performance in a Test against India in 2004, where he claimed his career-best figures of 6/9. Clarke's bowling skills were evident in both Test matches, where he secured 31 wickets, and in ODIs, where he claimed 57 wickets.
Chris Gayle, the formidable left-handed Jamaican batsman renowned for his dominance, has frequently served as the fifth bowler for the Caribbean side, often the sole spinner. With 7214 runs and 15 centuries in 103 Tests, his ODI and T20I records are even more remarkable, boasting 22 ODI centuries. Gayle also has an impressive record of 163 ODI wickets and 73 in Tests, bowling right-arm off-break.
Other notable ambidextrous cricketing talents include names like Suresh Raina, JP Duminy, ThisaraPerera, James Faulkner, and Moeen Ali.
