Name the best and worst ever career transformations in the history of cricket?

[The Bald Eagle]

Many cricketers have a super hit start to the career but fail to transform it into a promising career. Others start with mediocre performances but eventually become the legends and the greats of the game. Different factors like hard work, consistency and innovative skills are required to leave one's mark.

For instance examples of best career transformation

Steve Smith
Younis Khan
Rahul Dravid

Instances of worst career transformations

Prithvi Shah
Piyush Chawla
Hasan Ali

So name your good to worst and worst to best career transformations ever below.

 

[Rana]

Suryakumar Yadav

There was a thread here for 2010, he was primarily an off spinner.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Worst career transformation award goes to one and only Umar Akmal

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Suryakumar Yadav

There was a thread here for 2010, he was primarily an off spinner.

TBH I wasn't aware of it.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Suryakumar Yadav

There was a thread here for 2010, he was primarily an off spinner.

and now he became a bat spinner

 

[YousafTheBeast]

Haidar Ali - 54 off 30 balls on debut vs England

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Haidar Ali - 54 off 30 balls on debut vs England, and now drives Uber.

Do he still drives uber? If this is true then certainy its heart wrenching.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

For me Shoaib Malik had a wonderful career transformation, was brought into the side as a off spinner who used to bat at no 9.But quickly established himself as batter and even at one stage in life started as a opener for Pakistan. A brilliant career

 

[Rana]

Haidar Ali - 54 off 30 balls on debut vs England, and now drives Uber.

Are you serious? No way he drives Uber

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Haidar Ali - 54 off 30 balls on debut vs England, and now drives Uber.

from where u heard that story? He has played multiple leagues, played for Pakistan for quite a time, played county cricket too so how come he would be driving uber now?

 

[Asad T]

For me it has to be Steve Smith,
started as a leg spinner who could bat a little
to a batter who made the fab 4 and who doesn't bowl any longer

I was just looking at his debut test. It was against Pakistan, and he bowled 21 overs in the last innings and took 3 wickets. Imagine him bowling 20+ overs today haha. Insane transformation.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

For me it has to be Steve Smith,
started as a leg spinner who could bat a little
to a batter who made the fab 4 and who doesn't bowl any longer

I was just looking at his debut test. It was against Pakistan, and he bowled 21 overs in the last innings and took 3 wickets. Imagine him bowling 20+ overs today haha. Insane transformation.

When I saw this guy initially thought him to be a poor pick for the Australian team. But he just proved me wrong by bettering his career through sheer hard work and focus rather than exceptional skills.

The other Australian with unreal transformation appears to be Mitchell Johnson, was just pedestrian in the beginning but turned his career upside down post 2013-14 Ashes to enlist himself among the elite Australian pacers.

 

[Suleiman]

Saddest- Umar Akmal. Started his career off in incredible fashion. Even the most pessimistic Pakistani fan was full of hope. But then fell off due to himself but also the way he was managed.

Good ending- Rohit Sharma. You could put Steve Smith here, but imo Rohit had an epic transformation from middle order average or above average batsman to one of the best bats ever in ODIs. All it took was a master stroke from Dhoni promoting him to open.

Imagine if Pak did that with Umar, or if they continue to open with Fakhar in t20s… not saying they’d instantly be GOATs, but you need aggressor(s) at the top facing most of the deliveries rather than always expecting them to make 100 off 28 at 4, 5 or 6. Forced finishers.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Labu is one of the guys who transformed from a nobody to a good test batter. His stats in test cricket are superb.

 

[Suleiman]

Will put Shoaib Akhtar in this list too. Was destined for greatness, and ended as a massive underachiever. Again, he was his own biggest enemy.

Asif, Sharjeel as well. Abundance of talent but did themselves dirty.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Will put Shoaib Akhtar in this list too. Was destined for greatness, and ended as a massive underachiever. Again, he was his own biggest enemy.

Asif, Sharjeel as well. Abundance of talent but did themselves dirty.

Shoaib had the most iconic start but yep he destroyed his career through his own follies and intermittent injuries.

Asif and Amir too ruined their career. Amir even got a second chance but his big ego let him down again.

 

[Major]

Steve Smith. They bought him in as the next Shane Warne, turn out to be the next Ponting.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Yuvraj Singh is another individual underachiever, in my opinion there best batsman in the last 2 decades but failed to score even 9000 runs in ODI. His record in Test and T20I are even underwhelming.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Jos Buttler also had a wonderful career transformation especially in T20I. Despite having a really poor start.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Ben Stokes was also not very good at the U19 level but he has transformed himself into a utility player now-a-days.

 

[Major]

Mohammad Rizwan. He strugelled in his initial years but ended up becoming the T20 Player of the year.

And to think Imad Wasim once said he cant play t20

 

[Major]

For me it has to be Steve Smith,
started as a leg spinner who could bat a little
to a batter who made the fab 4 and who doesn't bowl any longer

I was just looking at his debut test. It was against Pakistan, and he bowled 21 overs in the last innings and took 3 wickets. Imagine him bowling 20+ overs today haha. Insane transformation.

ahhh the dreaded test where we gave 6 wickets to Marcus North

 

[ravisurya]

One of the best if not the best transformation has to be Fred Fintoff. Changed himself from a diddly bobly bowler and a big hitter into a world class genuine fast bowling all rounder.

 

[Mamoon]

Apart from the names mentioned, I am surprised that no one has mentioned Dilshan and Misbah.

Dilshan was a struggling middle-order batsman from 1999 to 2008 before the promotion up the order transformed his career.

From 2009 to 2016, he established himself as one of the best and most destructive openers in the world.

He would have eclipsed Jayasuriya as Sri Lanka’s greatest opener had he started opening earlier in his career.

Sri Lanka missed a trick by not pairing the two together in the mid 2000s.

Misbah’s resurgence in 2010 at the age of 36 was the stuff of dreams. It is unthinkable and no cricketer would ever experience such a change in fortune ever again.

 

[SamNJ]

Dravid was actually very good in tests right from the start.
95 on debut in England and 148 next year in South Africa.

 

[Hyder]

Rohit Sharma. From a struggling middle order bat to GOAT

 

[FearlessRoar]

If I give the most recent example, he is Gulbadin Naib. He has transformed himself into an explosive middle order batter, as we have seen in the recent India Afghanistan series, and more is yet to come.

 

[sweep_shot]

Some of the recent transformations:

Ravindra Jadeja: I remember fans used to troll him during his earlier days. He was getting called "Sir Ravindra Jadeja". But, he has turned things around and became a pretty successful cricketer.

Misbah: He started off his career without many big impacts. He was out of the team for a few years as a result. But, he managed to turn things around from 2007 World T20.

Nazmul Hossain Shanto: Was quite ordinary (even by Bangladeshi standard) during his earlier days. But, improved vastly later on and is now one of the main players in BD team.

Sikandar Raza: Wasn't anything special during the first few years. But, he is now a heavyweight in Zimbabwe team.

Gulbadin Naib: Much more impactful player now. Has improved a lot since 2019 World Cup.

 

[Major]

If I give the most recent example, he is Gulbadin Naib. He has transformed himself into an explosive middle order batter, as we have seen in the recent India Afghanistan series, and more is yet to come.

Na, he was always just a mishit cricketer.

Gulbaddin was part of the 2008 Afghanistan list of players that were playing in the WCL 5. He was bought in as a slogger which he still is.

He was always a part time bowler

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Some of the recent transformations:

Ravindra Jadeja: I remember fans used to troll him during his earlier days. He was getting called "Sir Ravindra Jadeja". But, he has turned things around and became a pretty successful cricketer.

Misbah: He started off his career without many big impacts. He was out of the team for a few years as a result. But, he managed to turn things around from 2007 World T20.

Nazmul Hossain Shanto: Was quite ordinary (even by Bangladeshi standard) during his earlier days. But, improved vastly later on and is now one of the main players in BD team.

Sikandar Raza: Wasn't anything special during the first few years. But, he is now a heavyweight in Zimbabwe team.

Gulbadin Naib: Much more impactful player now. Has improved a lot since 2019 World Cup.

I agree with your opinions on Sikandar Raza, Misbah and Shanto but the rest two are just inconsistent performers like Shahid Afridi.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

One of the best if not the best transformation has to be Fred Fintoff. Changed himself from a diddly bobly bowler and a big hitter into a world class genuine fast bowling all rounder.

Ben Stokes is the modern version of great flinti.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Mohammed Hafeez, the current Pak Coach was also a poor performer initially. Made his debut in 2003 but it was around 2007-08 that he made a comeback to the side and then showcased such a brilliant performance that he become a constant for the team Pakistan in the last decade.

Similarly around same time in 2007 Yusuf Pathan entered into Indian team on back of strong league performances but failed to live up to his hype and flopped miserably.

 

[SamNJ]

Dhoni looked like nothing special in 2004 BD series. Seemed like may never play for India again. Then 5 months later, came out to bat at no. 3 and the rest as they say is ...

 

[SamNJ]

Stuart Broad was hit by Yuvraj Singh for 6 sixes. What a great test career he had after that.

 

[SamNJ]

Nasir Jamshed was probably the best batting talent from Pakistan after 2010. Lost his way after a great start to his career.

Along with him there was Junaid Khan who was mishandled by PCB as they just didn't value him.

 

[NishanKonar]

Extraordinary career transformations

Ravi Shastri - started as No 11 in tests to test opener with several overseas tons
Sanath Jayasuriya - started as a spinner to revolutionary ODI batter from 1996 WC onwards
Jasprit Bumrah : From funny action T20 specialist to best all format bowler of his generation
Andrew Symonds - from bits & pieces player to ODI great post that century against Pakistan in 2003 WC

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Nasir Jamshed was probably the best batting talent from Pakistan after 2010. Lost his way after a great start to his career.

Along with him there was Junaid Khan who was mishandled by PCB as they just didn't value him.

We lost two gems. Nasir Jamshed and Junaid Khan both were nightmare for the team India then.

 

[NishanKonar]

For me it has to be Steve Smith,
started as a leg spinner who could bat a little
to a batter who made the fab 4 and who doesn't bowl any longer

I was just looking at his debut test. It was against Pakistan, and he bowled 21 overs in the last innings and took 3 wickets. Imagine him bowling 20+ overs today haha. Insane transformation.

This is a huge myth that Steve Smith started off a legspinner. In first class cricket, he was always a specialist batter & a part time leg spinner

The thing is after Shane Warne retired, Australian selectors were desperately looking for anybody who could bowl leg spin & hence Steve Smith was fast tracked bcoz he could bowl leg spin. But once it became clear that Steve Smith was not that good as legspinner , he was dropped & Smith went back to focusing only on his batting

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Mike Hussey - opened for a decade in domestic before getting picked as a middle order batter. Turned himself to one of the best finishers of the game.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Well Sreesanth took the indian team by storm.His performance was suberb in the 2007 t20 WC. But after that he slumped and vanished forever.

 

[viveks]

Jason Roy - Averaged 63 @115(!!) at the 2019 WC - no longer plays for England


Ishant Sharma - Averaged 36 from 2007-2017. From 2018-2022 he averaged 21, and a huge part of India's overseas sucess during that time

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Worst regression has to be Umar Akmal.

He was considered a greater talent than Kohli and Sharma for scoring a ton in a NZ Test and likely to supersede Tendulkar as well.

Ended up with fewer Test hundreds than Ravichandran Ashwin.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Worst regression has to be Umar Akmal.

He was considered a greater talent than Kohli and Sharma for scoring a ton in a NZ Test and likely to supersede Tendulkar as well.

Ended up with fewer Test hundreds than Ravichandran Ashwin.

I dont know whether he wasted himself or the PCB's lack of care destroyed him.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Jason Roy - Averaged 63 @115(!!) at the 2019 WC - no longer plays for England


Ishant Sharma - Averaged 36 from 2007-2017. From 2018-2022 he averaged 21, and a huge part of India's overseas sucess during that time

Ishant was never great in my opinion. But his 2.0 version was certainly great.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Cameron White of Australia had a brilliant start could have been the captain of Australia for some time but flopped of late.

From India Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel turned their brilliant starts into poor endings.

 

[Jazx]

Worst:
Vinod kambli
Umer Akmal
Irfan Pathan
Munaf
Sreesanth
Naser Jamshed

Best:
Shaheen (initially he looked very mediocore)
Atapattu
Jayasurya
Mcgrath (looked nothing special initially but turned out into one of the greatest)
Mohammad Hafeez (started his career in 2003 I think and was a pathetic batsman. But Hafeez 2.0 and 3.0 was a really stylish strokemaker.)

 

[ArabKnight]

Is “Imran Khan” censored on here??????

Why didn’t anybody say his name?

A decent batter who started fast bowling, aged like wine, and became the best all rounder in history.

Oh yea, did I forget, the first and only WC winning captain of Pakistan.

Truth hurts.

 

[CrIc_Mystique]

Ravi shastri comes to mind.
Start as LHO spinner and batted at 11. was promoted regularly up the order and even opened against Ik at his peak and peak WI pace diamond crazy pack of marshal, holding, garner, roberts etc was fairly successful.
Hit 6 sixes in domestic cric - to become 2nd after Sir Gary to do so.
Got champion of champions award in World championship of cricket 1985 - the pre cursor to today's champions trophy.
Captained india - and decent success levels. Dude worked hard at his game and you can see it in his coaching style - i feel he is the manager a lot of corporate guys would like to have- will defend you even if you are faulty against outside forces, but inside closed doors will give you with double barrells.
On the other side -regression - in indian cricket i can think of Sandeep patil - what a talent he was-but failed to fulfil, L siva -started of well, had a barn storming World championship of cricket- faded away later, Sadanand vishawanath - keeper -same like L Siva, in recent times Sreeshanth - outstanding seam presentation, could move the ball in the air and off the wicket - but alas - like umar Akmal - he was his worst enemy.

 

[CrIc_Mystique]

Cameron White of Australia had a brilliant start could have been the captain of Australia for some time but flopped of late.

From India Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel turned their brilliant starts into poor endings.

At risk of boasting about oneself, i kept wickets to Munaf patel in the Baroda leagues in 2000 or maybe 2001 in a game where the regular dude was injured. I was standing half way to the boundary and the ball used to thud into my gloves, he was that quick but raw.( At risk of dropping names but Milap mewada -afghan coach nowadays, atul bedade, Jacob Martin-played few odi for india- also played in that league so did pathan bros)

i have seen him come thru the leagues. He was probably upwards of 150kmph at that stage. Sachin took him under his wings. In his first test i remember agains Eng i think he bowled 150 kmph or thereabouts. A lackadaisical attitude to training and also a troublesome heel and knee reduced his speed and by 2011 he was another 125kmph trundler that we produce off late.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Is “Imran Khan” censored on here??????

Why didn’t anybody say his name?

A decent batter who started fast bowling, aged like wine, and became the best all rounder in history.

Oh yea, did I forget, the first and only WC winning captain of Pakistan.

Truth hurts.

Imran Khan case resembles a lot with Steve Smith both transformed their career with sheer will and hard work.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Worst:
Vinod kambli
Umer Akmal
Irfan Pathan
Munaf
Sreesanth
Naser Jamshed

Best:
Shaheen (initially he looked very mediocore)
Atapattu
Jayasurya
Mcgrath (looked nothing special initially but turned out into one of the greatest)
Mohammad Hafeez (started his career in 2003 I think and was a pathetic batsman. But Hafeez 2.0 and 3.0 was a really stylish strokemaker.)

Shaheen had a very good transformation but now again he hinges somewhere between good and bad. Haris Rauf too also had good transformation. Initially he did not had something special to offer.

 

[AMSS]

From India recently, Jaddu and Ishant.

Jaddu went from an object of ridicule to a GOAT Allrounder. Peerless cricketer.

Ishant 2.0 from 2014 onward was as good a bowler as any and a key contributor to India's test dominance.

 

[Jazx]

Shaheen had a very good transformation but now again he hinges somewhere between good and bad. Haris Rauf too also had good transformation. Initially he did not had something special to offer.

Yeah, but now Shaheen is again struggling since after injury and there is no workload
management in pakistan to save your primary fast bowler. Now he is also given t20 captaincy, so he could not be selective there also and will play almost all the matches.

 

[greatest]

Saeed Anwar too transformed himself from a blind hitter to a sensible and magnificent batter.

 

[Kianig89]

Muhammad Amir, World at his feet but then gets everything fixed, who can forget Holding tears

 

[Cricket Warrior]

One of the best career transformations I found is Shoaib Malik... he started as an off spinner but ended up as one of the best batters for Pakistan.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

James Faulkner. Looked like he could become a legit ODI ATG all rounder at one point. Would bat and bowl at the death and I think he was MOTM in the WC final.

Ended up being without a contract at the age of 31 and forgotten about.

He last played for Australia in 2017 but with all the leagues going around could have made a decent earning. I think his outburst in the PSL led to him being blacklisted as nobody wanted to take a risk with him.

 

[Buffet]

Saddest- Umar Akmal. Started his career off in incredible fashion. Even the most pessimistic Pakistani fan was full of hope. But then fell off due to himself but also the way he was managed.

Good ending- Rohit Sharma. You could put Steve Smith here, but imo Rohit had an epic transformation from middle order average or above average batsman to one of the best bats ever in ODIs. All it took was a master stroke from Dhoni promoting him to open.

Imagine if Pak did that with Umar, or if they continue to open with Fakhar in t20s… not saying they’d instantly be GOATs, but you need aggressor(s) at the top facing most of the deliveries rather than always expecting them to make 100 off 28 at 4, 5 or 6. Forced finishers.

It's actually puzzling to not have hitters with ability to go big on top in shorter formats.

 

[sweep_shot]

One of the best career transformations I found is Shoaib Malik... he started as an off spinner but ended up as one of the best batters for Pakistan.

Yeah. He was a tail-ender before.

They then promoted him up the order once and he scored a century. He never looked back.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

James Faulkner. Looked like he could become a legit ODI ATG all rounder at one point. Would bat and bowl at the death and I think he was MOTM in the WC final.

Ended up being without a contract at the age of 31 and forgotten about.

He last played for Australia in 2017 but with all the leagues going around could have made a decent earning. I think his outburst in the PSL led to him being blacklisted as nobody wanted to take a risk with him.

An unreal downfall indeed

 

[rhony]

I'd say Hardik Pandya and Bumrah. We all thought this overhyped funky hairstyled wannabe west Indian was a flash in the pan. Now, he's the future Indian captain and a premium all rounder. Bumrah was this lean awkward kid with the weirdest action one could find. He transformed into this all format bowling monster with the most unintimidating shortest run up. They both benefited from patient, insightful leadership and management. They were nurtured despite their quirks and the transformation has been incredible.

 

[JaDed]

Rohit Sharma the guy had the most haters up until 2013, then CT happened and everything changed.

Worst: UA

The trajectory of UA and Rohit is an exact opposite and same timeline

 

[Unbiased-Fan]

- Corey Anderson faded away after 35 ball century
- Mitchell Starc was ordinary test bowler till 2015.
- Trent Boult was an ordinary ODI bowler till 2015 WC
- Ajith Agarkar & Ajantha Mendis both started their ODI careers with bang
- KL Rahul's test career started with centuries in several countries but still have less than 35 average.
- Ajinkya Rahane once averaged 51 in tests
- Darren Bravo had superb start to his test career
- Bhuvi Kumar averaged 25 in tests but was never given long run
- Great Sachin averaged 56+ after 175 tests but ended with only 53.

 

[Unbiased-Fan]

Gautam Gambhir once averaged 50+ in tests, had scored 5 consecutive hundreds, was no. 1 ranked batsman in tests but ends with moderate average of 41.

 

[ElRaja]

pbly been mentioned but imran khan, 25 tests in his first 8 years of international cricket, batting average of 20, bowling average of 33, batting average of 47 and bowling average of 19 after.

 

[sweep_shot]

- Umar Akmal (faded away after showing great early promise).
- Muhammad Ashraful (could've achieved far more).
- Ajantha Mendis (didn't do much after Asia Cup 2008).
- Vinod Kambli (definitely underachieved).
- Muhammad Asif (could've achieved much more).

 

[rickroll]

Many cricketers have a super hit start to the career but fail to transform it into a promising career. Others start with mediocre performances but eventually become the legends and the greats of the game. Different factors like hard work, consistency and innovative skills are required to leave one's mark.

For instance examples of best career transformation

Steve Smith
Younis Khan
Rahul Dravid

Instances of worst career transformations

Prithvi Shah
Piyush Chawla
Hasan Ali

So name your good to worst and worst to best career transformations ever below.

Very interesting thread.

Question of ignorance - What transformation did Rahul Dravid have? Was he initially a bad player?

 

[giri26]

Very interesting thread.

Question of ignorance - What transformation did Rahul Dravid have? Was he initially a bad player?

Rahul did not have any transformation as a Test player, he was great from the start. He did transform himself as a decent ODI batter after being dropped for being too slow after couple of years in the format.

For me the worst transformations from Indian point of view were all the pacers before the current lot baring Zaheer.

RP Singh
Sreesanth
Munaf Patel
Irfan Pathan

All the above started with so much promise but ended up having ordinary careers. In batting it has to be Prithvi Shaw, no one comes close.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Worst career transformaton award goes to one and only Lord Umar Akmal

 

[msb314]

Best Tranformations
- Ricky Ponting
- Rohit Sharma
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Younis Khan
- Misbah Ul Haq
- Steve Smith
- Dilshan
- Rangana Herath
- Gautam Gambhir
- Mohammad Hafeez

Worst Transformations:
- Umar Akmal
- Kamran Akmal
- Yasir Shah
- Imran Nazir
- Abdul Razzaq
- Irfan Pathan
- Yusuf Pathan
- Karun Nair
- Prithvi Shaw
- Jim Faulkner
- Corey Anderson
- Andrew Flintoff
- Simon Jones
- Ajantha Mendis
- Dinesh Chandimal

 

[cricketmania22]

Rana Naveed - from bald to full set of hair to bald again. That’s the best transformation of any cricket player.

 

[cricketmania22]

David Warner - from a leg side hack to top player in all formats.

 

[Rana]

Mohammad Rizwan. He strugelled in his initial years but ended up becoming the T20 Player of the year.

And to think Imad Wasim once said he cant play t20

Mohammad Rizwan

Incompetent cricketer turned into an IIFA level actor/fraud T20 opener

 

[Major]

From India recently, Jaddu and Ishant.

Jaddu went from an object of ridicule to a GOAT Allrounder. Peerless cricketer.

Ishant 2.0 from 2014 onward was as good a bowler as any and a key contributor to India's test dominance.

oh man Jadeja..

I remember watching the first IPL and Jadeja playing for the Rajastan Royals. He was only a bits and pieces cricketer back than. I remember Sohail Tanvir being angry at him in the final of the 2008 IPL.

Than one day i found out he is the highest paid ipl player and was surprised. But when he won the champions trophy he lived up to that hype

 

[Rana]

You mentioned Imad Wasim…

He was right about Rizwan. What do you have to say about it now? Your going to show his ICC trophy?

 

[Rana]

And to think Imad Wasim once said he cant play t20

Should have listened to Maddy. Wouldn’t have botched 3 world cups in a row

 

[Hitman]

Very interesting thread.

Question of ignorance - What transformation did Rahul Dravid have? Was he initially a bad player?

Dravid was a fine Test player from the beginning. Extremely one dimensional and methodical, but made up for it by scoring runs consistently. He was dropped from the ODI team in 1998 for being too slow in that format. He made his comeback in 1999 in the ODI format and vastly improved. He was the highest run scorer in the 1999 WC. From then on he was a regular in the ODI team till he was dropped from it in 2007.​

 

[Major]

You mentioned Imad Wasim…

He was right about Rizwan. What do you have to say about it now? Your going to show his ICC trophy?

right about Rizwan?

Rizwan ends up playing 102 T20s for Pakistan and winning the T20 player of the year award.

Meanwhile, @Rana is still stuck in 2018 hoping for a bad season so that Imad could be right.

 

[Aang_The_last_airbender]

JayaSuriya and Steve Smith are The GOAT Transformation.

 

[giri26]

JayaSuriya and Steve Smith are The GOAT Transformation.

Jayasuriya was actually a good bat but was playing lower down the order as a bowling all-rounder. Even in the game against Zimbabwe in 1992 WC where Sri Lanka chased 312 successfully, he came lower down the order and scored a quickfire 32. It just took a leader like Ranatunga to finally spot the spark and sent him to open and rest is history. I am not that sure about Steven Smith as to how his career began and if he actually played as a bowler for NSW. Looking at his FC debut even though he batted at number 7 for NSW, he bowled only 10 overs overall in that game in Sydney. Could not have played as a bowler for sure. He did score 33 with the bat in the first innings. So may be Australia wrongly picked him as a spin-bowling all-rounder instead of a batter who could bowl a bit of leg-spin.