Ambidextrous (both hands) Bowling – A new Beginning

Ambidextrous bowling a God gifted talent, that means a bowler can bowl from both his hands. Technically really very hard for a normal person, but few young ambitious players have started to uncover this massive potential

Bowling professionally from both your hands let alone one, is extra ordinary challenging. It demands re-wiring your whole body and so is immensely difficult.

This challenging potential is possessed by least five players in high level cricket internationally. In the men’s game Yasir Jan from Pakistan,  Kamindu Mendis from Sri Lanka and Akshay Karnewar from India are the heroic bowlers to ball using both arms. Shaila Sharmin of Bangladesh and Australia’s Jemma Barsby are the women to do ambidextrous bowling.

Ambidextrous bowling is not an entirely new phenomenon in cricket; in fact, Pakistan’s Hanif Muhammad also bowled with both hand sbut quite occasionally, usually in desperation.

For Barsby and Yasir, ambidexterity was naturally developed from childhood as they messed around with the notion.  But the phenomenon was suggested by the coaches of the other two, Karnewar and Mendis. Sharmin’s decision was however pragmatic.

Yasir Jan:

Bowler

Jan hails from the North Western Frontier Province of Pakistan, Charsadda, he was eight when he decided to ball with both his arms.

“This then became an obsession for me and I have continued to develop this style without any help from anyone,” he said while talking to Sky Sports.

“Its just a beginning the impact of Yasir Jan’s discovery has proved to be a huge impact on young people.” ” says Aaqib JAved, Pakistani bowling coach and former cricketer. He is the only fast bowler amongst the five ambidextrous players.

Kamindu Mendis:

Bowler

Sri Lanka’s Mendis was also just thirteen when his coach suggested him to bowl right-arm-spin along with his left-arm-spin. He did ambidextrous bowling in the Under  19 World Cup last year.

Akshay Karnewar:

Bowler

He was  a right arm off spinner but unsually proficient of throwing the ball with his weaker left arm.

Jemma Barsby:

Bowler

On a bright summer day,  Jemma barsby, a 13 year old ambitious baller was playing cricket in the front yard. She was tired of trying  to get her brother out.

“”I thought, instead of losing my shit and storming inside, I would change it up and try something oas to which way it would spin and the different speed it came out at. It stopped him smacking me around.”

Later on in a WBBL game against Sydney SIxers, Brisbane faced defeat. Just in between an over of right arm spin, Barsby told the umpires that now she will be switching arms while bowling and the umpires were wonder struck.

Shaila Sharmin:

Bowler

She was only 21 when she concluded that she had no chance to get into the team by her prospects as right-arm-of-spin, so she decided to bowl left handedly too. She showed her skills in the World Cup Qualifiers this year.

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