Have you ever thought of taking a shift in your career? Have you imagined the consequences of it? Making the right turn at the right time would be fruitful sometimes. Here are a few crickets who have spun and swung in their ways and proved successful bowlers.

1. Ravichandran Ashwin

 Ravichandran Ashwin, a spin wizard of Indian cricket, was born on Sep 17, 1986, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Ashwin started his career as an opening batsman at the junior level of cricket but achieved no success with the bat. Ashwin took a new role of an off-spin bowler representing Tamil Nadu at the domestic level. However, in 2010 representing the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, he was the leading wicket-taker for his team, and in the same year, he earned his maiden international call-up in the limited-overs formats. He was also part of the Indian squad that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Having played 92 test matches as of May 2023, Ashwin picked 474 wickets at an average of 23.93. Although being a lead bowler, Ashwin has impressed everyone with his bat scoring 5 test hundreds and some quick runs in white ball cricket.

2. Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja was born on 6 December 1988 in Jamnagar, Gujarat. He also started his cricketing career as a top-order batsman though his bowling never took a backseat. In his initial days of the franchise and international cricket, Jadeja was more partial towards bowling, but in the later stages of his career, he showed a few good striking skills with his power-hitting ability.

3. Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar

Mumbai, based former Indian fast bowler Ajit Agarkar was a fine batsman at the junior cricket level. In his cricket career, Ajit has achieved something high that most cricketers don't have with their bats. In his 221 outings to India, Agarkar has picked 349 wickets and engraved his name on the honors board in Lord's after marking a century in 2002. Post-retirement, he became a cricket analyst.

4. James Edward Charles Franklin

James Franklin was a crucial all-rounder of his time for the New Zealand side, especially in white-ball cricket. Franklin played 179 international games for New Zealand. He is one of the two New Zealanders to take a Test hat-trick. Franklin started his career as a batsman. However, Franklin slowly turned to the ball by the time of his international debut. He became a handy lower-order batsman.

5. Kyle Jamieson

Jamieson was born in Auckland. Although doing fine with the bat at the junior level, Jamieson had picked up 6 for 7 in four overs playing in the 2019 Super Smash. By the way, this feat has been achieved by only three men in cricket. Jamieson's ability to swing the ball both ways has proved him an asset for New Zealand in test cricket.

6. Michael Anthony Holding

Michael Holding, the former West Indies cricketer, was named "Whispering Death" due to his silent, light-footed run up to the bowling crease. An extraordinary bowler of his time Holding showcased the power-hitting ability which he learned at junior-level cricket.

7. George Bradley Hogg

Brad Hogg was a left-arm wrist spin bowler who represented the Australia cricket team at the national level from 1996 to 20114. Hogg was part of Australia’s squad that won the 2003 and 2007 cricket world cups. He was also one of them who started his career as a batsman.

8. Sulieman Jamaal Benn

Despite being tall enough to hit the deck hard, Sulieman Benn choose spin bowling as his choice at the time of debut for west-Indies to make a shift in his career from beinga batsman in his early days of cricket.

9. Shardul Narendra Thakur

Shardul is known to be the man with a golden arm for his habit of picking up wickets when the team is in need. The less-known incident from Shardhul’s school cricket was that he had hit six sixes in an over which inspired him to become a batsman. However, with time, he focused more on his bowling.

10. Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble, a former legendary leg spinner for India, has a unique record of picking all ten wickets in test innings. Playing 132 test matches for India, Kumble has scalped 613 wickets, fourth highest of all time. Although known for his bowling Kumble was more interested in batting in his childhood days.