5 best all-rounders in Indian cricket team till date

An ‘Indian All-Rounder’ has almost been an alien term to the cricket world over the years. The job of finding a player with equally supreme batting, bowling and fielding abilities in India is like searching for a Diamond in a coal mine, no matter how vast it is.

There were many Indian players in the early 20th century who were termed as all-rounders. However, they were either batsmen who could bowl a bit or bowlers who could bat a bit. And then there was another category who neither specialised in batting nor in bowling. All they could do was to bat a bit and bowl a bit.

Lala Amarnath was the first Indian player to be recognised as an all-rounder worldwide as he was the first Indian to claim 5 wickets and score a 50 in the same Test match. However, he was more of a batsman than a bowler in the early part of his career. But, his batting deteriorated with time and he became more of a bowler.

There were other examples too in the likes of Dattu Phadkar, Manoj Prabhakar, Polly Umrigar and others. However, none of them had such prolific records both as a batsman and as a bowler. They either specialised in bowling or in batting.

Let us now have a look at the five best all-rounders in Indian Cricket history till date.

---

#5 Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan

The younger one of the Pathan brothers, Irfan, made his international debut for India way before Yusuf Pathan and soon became one of the faces of Indian Cricket. His hat-trick against Pakistan in a Test match at Multan is still one of the most cherished memories for the Indian Cricket fans.

He started off as a left-arm medium fast bowler and soon grabbed everyone's attention with his wicket-taking ability. What made him more attractive as a player was his hard hitting batting skills. India even fielded him as an all-rounder who opened the bowling and batted in the middle order for a fair part of his career.

However, he lost the firepower in his bowling after a series of injuries and gradually fell out of contention of the squad. His statistics as an all-rounder still remain impressive, though.

In 29 Tests, he has 1105 runs and 100 wickets to his name at averages of 31.89 and 32.86 respectively. It includes one century and nine half-centuries as well. His ODI numbers also make a good read with 1544 runs and 173 wickets to his name at averages of 23.39 and 29.72 in 120 matches.

#4 Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri

The present coach of the Indian Cricket team fits into this list as well. Shastri, a hard hitting middle-order batsman and a canny left arm orthodox bowler, was probably the first of the modern version of limited overs all-rounders. He had scored 3109 runs and claimed 129 wickets in the 150 ODIs that he played for India.

However, he had a decent record in Tests as well. He scored 3830 runs at an average of 35.79 in 80 Tests and it also included 11 centuries and 12 half-centuries. And with his slow left arm orthodox bowling, he claimed 151 crucial wickets as well in those matches.

He also has a Test double hundred to his name, that too against Australia at Sydney. His six hitting prowess is well-known as he hit six sixes in an over once in a first class match in 1985.

#3 Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravi Ashwin

Although Ravichandran Ashwin is mainly considered as a bowler, most people know that he is much more than that because of his prolific batting abilities. 284 wickets in 51 Tests is certainly a huge number. However, over 2000 runs for a batsman who has mostly batted at No.7 or 8 throughout his Test career is certainly huge.

Moreover, he became the fastest to achieve the double of 2000 runs and 250 wickets in Tests, surpassing the likes of Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham and Imran Khan in the second Test match of the ongoing series against Sri Lanka. He already has 4 Test centuries to his name and it seems that will only increase in the coming years.

Extra cover: 5 Indians who will do well if they play in the Caribbean Premier League

He also has 150 wickets to his name in 105 ODIs. However, his batting numbers of 674 runs at an average of 16.43 do not make for a good read in ODI cricket. That, though, is mainly due to the superb batting lineup of India and his batting position which is mostly at No.9.

Ashwin is already amongst the greatest all-rounders that India has ever got. He will achieve a lot more with time and his records will only improve further.

#2 Vinoo Mankad

Vinoo Mankad

Vinoo Mankad was a stylish right-handed batsman who could bat anywhere in the batting order along with opening the innings. He was a superb left-arm orthodox spinner as well and his strong reflexes also made him a good close-in fielder.

He made his Test debut against England in 1946 and went on to play 44 Tests scoring 2109 runs along with claiming 162 wickets. His batting record also included 5 excellent centuries and 7 instances of crucial half-centuries.

His innings of 231 against New Zealand at Madras in 1956 was one of the best seen from an Indian all-rounder. He was also involved in an opening partnership of 413 runs along with Pankaj Roy during the course of that innings which stood as the highest opening partnership in Tests for 52 years until Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie broke it.

Moreover, he is one amongst those rare Indian players to have scored a century and taken 5 wickets in an innings of a Test match. As a bowler, he registered match figures of more than 10 wickets twice and also held the record for the most wickets in a series for a long time with 34 wickets to his name.

#1 Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev is unarguably the best Indian all-rounder the world has ever seen. His prolific seam bowling and aggressive batting, which seemed to be way ahead of time, made him a force to reckon in World cricket. Moreover, he made waves in Indian cricket when he led the Indian team to their first World Cup title in 1983 out of nowhere.

He had prolific records in both Test and ODI cricket, playing 131 and 225 matches respectively in the two formats. By the time he retired, he already had 9031 international runs and 687 international wickets to his name.

His innings of 175* against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup is still considered as the best innings by an Indian batsman in World Cup history. He is the only player in cricket history to have achieved the double of 5000 runs and 400 wickets in Tests. He was bestowed with the title of the ‘Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century’.