4 players who bowled both spin and medium-pace

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Sachin ha
Sachin has bowled some match-changing spells for India

Bowling is not an easy art to master. Spectators love to see the ball being hit out of the park and batsmen scoring big runs. As a result, with time the rules have been bent in the batsmen's favour. Moreover, the pitches have become more batsmen friendly. Lives of bowlers have become tougher and this has demanded the bowlers to become versatile.

Bowlers are often classified in mainly two categories - Pacers and spinners. Bowlers are included in the team considering their bowling style and whether their style of bowling will be suitable on a particular pitch or not. However, there is this rare category of players who have been able to bowl both spin and pace.

Players like Zaheer Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Manoj Prabhakar have occasionally bowled spin at a few occasions but some players have done it more regularly. These bowlers are a blessing for the captain as it provides him with more options. We will look at 4 players who have bowled both spin and pace in international cricket.

#4 Colin Miller

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Colin Miller sporting a blue hair colour

Colin Miller was an Australian bowler who played 18 Tests for his country from 1998 to 2001. Miller had this unique ability to bowl both spin and pace. While he bowled medium pace in Tests in Australia, he turned an off-spinner in subcontinent conditions. The Victorian made his debut for Australia at the age of 34 and retired in 2001. He took 69 Test wickets and was fairly successful on the International stage.

Indian fans will remember Miller for his spell of 3-41 that threatened to take the match away from the Indians in the last innings of the famous Chennai Test in the 2001Test series.

#3 Andrew Symonds

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Andrew Symonds was a more than useful bowler

Andrew Symonds made headlines during his career for reasons more than one. Even though he was involved in a lot of on-field and off-field controversies, Symonds was an extremely talented cricketer. Known more for his hard-hitting batting, the Australian was also a more than useful bowler and bowled some match-winning spells for his team.

One of the main features of Symonds' bowling was his ability to bowl both spin and medium pace bowling. While in the early part of his career he bowled medium pace bowling, the all-rounder turned into an off-break bowler later. Symonds took 165 international wickets.

#2 Sir Garfield Sobers

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Sobers is regarded as the best all-rounder of his era

Sir Garfield Sobers is one of the all-time greats of the game. There were very few things that the legendary West Indies player couldn't do. He scored 8032 runs at an outstanding average of 57.78. Sobers' 365 not out against Pakistan in 1958 was the highest individual Test score until Brian Lara scored 375 in 1994.

Sobers originally started playing cricket as a bowler. He took 235 wickets in his Test career. The all-rounder bowled left-arm fast medium as well as slow left-arm orthodox to good effect. He wasn't afraid of trying out new things as he also bowled chinaman quite a few times in his international career.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar

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Tendulkar did not shy away from trying different things with the ball

It is not a hidden fact that Sachin Tendulkar aspired to be fast bowler when he started his career. While he eventually became a top-class batsman, Sachin did bowl medium pacers, especially in the initial part of his career. During the 1992 World Cup he bowled seam-ups regularly. The Master Blaster later tried his hand at off-spin and leg-spin bowling. In the later stages of his career, he predominantly became a leg spinner.

Sachin bowled according to pitch conditions and match situations. He was often used by the captains as a fifth bowler. The batting maestro has 201 international wickets to his name. Sachin has won a lot of matches for India with his bowling too.

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Edited by Aadya Sharma