Bowler takes breather in the beginning (5)
I believe the answer is:
lungi
'bowler' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'breather in the beginning' is the wordplay.
'breather' becomes 'lung' (I've seen this before).
'the beginning' indicates taking the first letters (I've seen 'the beginning of' mean this).
The initial letter of 'in' is 'i'.
'lung'+'i'='LUNGI'
'takes' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lungi that I've seen before include "simple garment" , "Eastern dress" , "Brightly coloured cloth worn in Asia as an ankle-length skirt" , "worn piece of cloth" , "Indian man's loin-cloth" .)