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Limited-overs cricket in India is in ailing health. Ailing is perhaps an overstatement, but for a nation that for years set the tone in the ODI format for the world is perhaps lagging behind a bit to teams like Australia, New Zealand and England with their fluid batting lineups and futuristic approach to the game. MS Dhoni’s captaincy, and his field placement strategies in conditions such as these have repeatedly come under the scanner throughout his ten-year long captaincy stint, but have been glossed over with numerous Test and One-Day match victories in the subcontinent, where the spinners have dismantled sides in helpful conditions. Dhoni’s insistence on playing two spinners on these flat pitches has backfired twice, and his batting has been on the wane for at least three years now.But above all, perhaps the most disappointing of Dhoni’s traits as captain is the utter lack of faith in his bowlers. His likely successor and current test captain, Virat Kohli is the polar opposite in this regard, as he empowers his bowlers with confidence, and allows them to bowl possibly wicket-taking deliveries with good, attacking fields. Dhoni allows matches, and oppositions to slowly drift along in the middle overs with his spinners, but on pitches like these, when they don’t fire, his captaincy looks incompetent and lazy. Dhoni, and India, have pined for a fast-bowling all-rounder over the years to give the team some balance. This is a list of a few seam-bowling all-rounders in the Indian domestic setup at present, who have performed consistently well, and possibly have a chance of filling that number 6/number 7 slot in the Indian lineup, and maybe proving Dhoni wrong.
#1 RISHI DHAWAN
Rishi Dhawan made his first-class debut over six years ago for Himachal Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy, but at 25, still remains one of India’s youngest and brightest all-rounder prospects. He has been consistently ignored for selection over the last few years, even though he was Indian domestic cricket’s best fast bowling all rounder by a distance.
Over the course of his first-class career, he has amassed 220 wickets at 25.8 and has a 40+ batting average with four hundreds batting at five for Himachal. His List A statistics are similarly exceptional, with a batting average of 39, and a bowling average of 31. Dhawan even returned decent figures in T20s he played for the Kings XI Punjab in the IPL over the course of a few seasons.
Dhawan has had to compete, primarily, with Stuart Binny, whose credentials as an international cricketer are highly questionable, and has mediocre domestic numbers. But with Binny now out of the team, Dhawan received a call-up to the Indian squad for the ODIs against Australia and debuted in the game at the MCG, where he bowled admirably well but didn’t get an adequate chance with the bat. Despite his lack of pace, Dhawan can offer India a Chris Woakes-type all round option.
#2 HARDIK PANDYA
Gujarat’s Hardik Pandya was recently selected in the squad for the T20 leg of India’s tour of Australia. He may not have the numbers in domestic cricket to back up his selection at the moment, but he is a high-impact player and has been shredding bowlers in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the domestic T20 tournament.
Pandya, a virtually unknown commodity at the time, announced his arrival in brutal fashion in the 2015 IPL, in which he played for Mumbai, the eventual winners. Pandya has shown glimpses of what India lack sorely: a quality lower-order finisher and a capable holding seamer. He may not be the best bowler on this list and is certainly not quick by any stretch of imagination but has an immense six-hitting ability, and can surprise with subtle variations of pace while bowling.
He is certainly not the finished article, and with his style of play could be made to look horrendous on his off days, but India could do well to learn from England’s and Australia’s selection of still-raw all-rounders in Ben Stokes and Mitchell Marsh, among others, and take the leap with a player like Pandya. He could prove extremely useful for the T20 format, especially with the World Cup in a couple of months time.
#3 ASHISH REDDY
One of the lesser-talked about potential all-rounder prospects in India at the moment, Ashish Reddy has a First-Class batting average of 37, and a bowling average of 27 in just 26 matches across a handful of seasons.
At just 24 years of age, Reddy even has a first-class century to his name, but has forged his reputation primarily through his excellent all-round performances in List A and Twenty20 matches. He has an average of 35 in List A games with a century and four fifties at a strike rate of 111.
But Reddy’s breakthrough domestic season was the 2015 IPL season, where he batted with authority and bowled with competence, and held his own against international-quality batting and bowling lineups whenever he was given a chance. He possesses a clean game which is accentuated by his excellent fielding and is by no means a bits-and-pieces cricketer. Reddy is definitely an option that the Indian selectors could keep in their radar for the forthcoming season.
#4 VIJAY SHANKAR
Vijay Shankar is perhaps the only batting all-rounder in this list, judging by his career overall bowling average of 47, with best match returns of 3/43 and despite his prolific domestic form, it would, theoretically, be extremely difficult for him to find a place in the Indian top order. The Tamil Nadu player made his First Class debut in 2012, and in 22 matches since, scored three hundreds and nine fifties and nearly 50.
His impressive performances against Australia A late last year have made the selectors sit up and take notice, but his ability as a bowler has come into question. Shankar’s gentle medium pace bowling is not exactly of international standard, but he is resolute in his pursuit of becoming, in his words, a “genuine all-rounder.”
Shankar has all of the attributes of a solid top-order batsman: patience, off-stump awareness, the ability to shift gears when necessary, and a wide range of shots. But whether or not he could cut it as an all-rounder in the Indian team is questionable. Maybe a few more seasons of domestic cricket would help answer that question.
#5 IRFAN PATHAN
Irfan Pathan was India’s golden boy at one point of time, nearly a decade ago. His elegant left arm swing bowling, explosive lower order batting and his strikingly good looks made him an extremely marketable cricketer. He was an astonishingly great talent, and his Test figures with both bat and ball suggest he was largely untapped.
A series of injuries, poor advice from staff and over-coaching led to the derailment of what could’ve been an extremely promising career for Pathan. He epitomized the Indian fast bowler, who burns bright for a short while and fades as quickly as he emerges, always leaving the question of what could’ve been.
Although, the Baroda cricketer has been in beautiful touch in the ongoing Mushtaq Ali Trophy, but his bowling, as effective as it has been over the years, leaves some room for apprehension owing to the gulf between the quality of domestic and international sides, and the drop in his bowling speed over the years. Regardless, he is a seasoned international cricketer, and could potentially be a serious answer, at least in the short-term, to India’s all-rounder conundrum, especially in the shortest form of the game.
