There’s endless debate over the value of pure specialists versus all-rounders in cricket. Yet, not much else matches the entertainment of watching a frontline batter take the ball and unexpectedly turn into a lethal bowler. IPL star Ashutosh Sharma, signed for his power-hitting by Hampshire, turned heads on Friday, July 31, with his maiden List A five-wicket haul against Essex in the One-Day Cup.

But have you ever wondered what the Ashutosh equivalent at the international stage would be? Here are five instances in the last 30 years when pure batters left the opponents bemused with their spell. We have only considered players who didn't bowl often, and thus the likes of Joe Root and Chris Gayle, among others, haven't made the cut.

1. Michael Bevan - 4-31 & 6-82 v West Indies, 1997

Michael Bevan was best known for his amazing finishing skills in ODIs. He holds the record for the second-highest batting average (53.58) in ODI history among players with at least 70 matches, after Virat Kohli. A legendary figure in the 50-over format, Bevan also played 18 Tests and, surprisingly enough, has a 10-wicket match haul in the format.

The part-time left-arm wrist-spinner's heroics came in the Adelaide Test against the West Indies in 1997. He picked up four wickets in the first innings and six in the second, leaving the Caribbean unit shocked. Bevan also scored an unbeaten 85 with the bat as Australia won the Test by an innings and 183 runs. Notably, 16 of the 20 West Indian wickets to fall in the match were picked up by the two Australia spinners, Shane Warne and Bevan.

2. Mark Butcher - 1-8 & 4-60 v Zimbabwe, 2003

Mark Butcher played 71 Tests, scoring 4288 runs with eight centuries and 23 fifties. He also bowled his right-arm medium in 30 innings and picked up 15 wickets, five of which came in an all-timer game for him. He first scored a ton before turning match-winner with the ball.

Butcher dismissed Dion Ebrahim, Zimbabwe's top-scorer in the first innings, before carrying that confidence into the second innings to stun the opposition with a four-wicket haul. He dismissed Mark Vermeulen, Stuart Carlisle, Andy Blignaut and Travis Friend as England won the Test by an innings and 92 runs. This was Butcher’s second four-wicket haul after his first against Australia in the Edgbaston Test of the 2001 Ashes.

3. Ramnaresh Sarwan - 3-59 & 4-37 v Bangladesh, 2004

Ramnaresh Sarwan is one of the greatest West Indies batters, but his occasional legbreaks were effective as well, as Bangladesh found out in the St Lucia Test of 2004. He registered his best-ever Test figures, picking up seven wickets in the match.

Sarwan picked up three wickets for 59 runs as Bangladesh batted for 135 overs to score 416 in the first innings. He was even better in the second, triggering a middle-order collapse and finishing with figures of 4-37 in 20 overs. The high-scoring Test match eventually ended in a draw.

4. Graeme Smith - 3-30 v Sri Lanka, 2006

Graeme Smith, the legendary South Africa captain, scored 17236 international runs across formats. But he also bowled a bit during his career, picking up eight Test wickets and 18 ODI scalps. He arguably bowled the best spell of his off-spin career during the VB Series clash against Sri Lanka in 2006.

He broke Sri Lanka's 94-run opening partnership by removing Jehan Mubarak. He also dismissed Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene to take the first three Sri Lanka wickets to fall in the game, in the same spell. He finished with figures of 3-30 in 10 overs - his best in ODIs - faciliating South Africa's five-wicket win. He also scored 41 runs with the bat.

5. Kraigg Brathwaite - 6-29 v Sri Lanka, 2015

Former West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite is known for his dogged knocks while opening the innings. But in October 2015 at the P Sara Oval in Colombo, Brathwaite landed his off-breaks in the right areas to leave Sri Lanka batters shell-shocked.

His heroics came in the second innings as he picked up the last six wickets to fall for just 29 runs. He dismissed Angelo Mathews, Milinda Siriwardana, Kusal Perera, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera and Nuwan Pradeep during his spell. Sri Lanka collapsed from 151-4 to 206 all-out, but his bowling effort went in vain as the West Indies lost by 72 runs.

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