If the BCCI advertises for quality Test all-rounders, chances are that they will get very few applications. Finding batsmen is not a problem – they seem to come off a conveyer belt and, already, sitting on the pipeline is Karun Nair, a test triple centurion. There is excess supply too of fast bowlers, with Ishant and Bhuvi waiting to play.
But, somehow, Indian cricket has traditionally suffered a drought like scarcity of genuine all-rounders. No wonder Virat Kohli expressed a hope that Hardik Pandya becomes Ben Stokes who, incidentally, reminds others of Andrew Flintoff.
However, Pandya as a Test all-rounder is a massive stretch – currently he is a bit of this and a bit of that player. In 4 seasons of Ranji Trophy (18 matches), he is yet to score a hundred and has picked up only 25 wickets!
That Virat, like all captains, wants an all-rounder is perfectly understandable because a player with two skills is a priceless asset. A player capable of performing different roles gives the team more balance and more strategic options. With a batting all-rounder on hand, the captain can, for instance choose an extra bowler to strengthen the playing eleven.
Greatest All-Rounders
The gold standard of all-rounders in cricket is Gary Sobers, the greatest ever cricketer (besides Don Bradman) in the view of many. Sobers averages almost 58 and scored 26 Test hundreds. Also took 235 wickets and 109 catches. But these stats tell only a part of his genius.
Sobers batted at all positions, from one to nine, his first Test hundred was a record breaking 365. He debuted as a left arm spinner, but bowled with the new ball at brisk pace, and also unorthodox chinaman. Peerless as a fielder, he was superb at short leg and in the deep. Nobody, just nobody, can match this versatility!
Among the modern era players, Jacques Kallis is a worthy second to Sobers, his numbers are far ahead of his contemporaries. Still it’s debatable whether he influenced the outcome of matches as Sobers did.
Before Kallis, there was the 'golden age' of all-rounders when world cricket celebrated the spectacular skills of Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee and Ian Botham – all of them, whom were match winners.
In the Indian context, Kapil Dev ka jawab nahin. Paaji is one of the benchmarks for every all-rounder. His sharp outswing aided him to take 413 Test wickets, a remarkable achievement considering he toiled on flat subcontinent wickets mostly, which totally frustrated Dennis Lillee.
The batsman Kapil Dev will be remembered for his 175 against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup and the magnificent 129 against South Africa in 1993 at Port Elizabeth. India were tottering at 27/5, when he walked in to bat in the second innings of the Test match.
And who can forget the day when he smashed Eddie Hemmings during the 1990 Test series, for 4 successive sixes at Lord’s to avoid the follow-on in the match!
Kapil was good enough to bat for India at 6, but because he bowled so many overs, he remained a bowling all-rounder throughout his career. Had he focussed more on batting, and not bowled 30 overs every innings, Kapil would have at least scored 2,000 more Test runs.
Shastri and Prabhakar Played Their Part
Ravi Shastri, unlike Kapil Dev, was a bowler who became a batting all-rounder and in both roles consistently punched above his weight. Starting off as a left-arm spinner, he built a reputation as a 'wicket taking' bowler, someone with a gift of breaking big partnerships. But Shastri is remembered more for his battling. He scored 11 Test centuries – many as an opener. The Mumbai cricketer notched hundreds against quality pace attacks in West Indies, Pakistan and Australia.
Some thought of him to be not stylish, but that can only be a minor crib. What stood out about Shastri was his stubborn defence and the price he put on his wicket. His batting was more heart than technique, more substance than style.
For a while, Manoj Prabhakar inherited the all-rounder's role, his cunning medium pace (and reverse swing) complimented by batting at the top of the order specially in ODIs. In first-class cricket, he had a decent batting record, averaging 41.49 with 20 hundreds.
The Current Lot
Among current players, Ashwin's career has followed a similar trajectory – a specialist bowler who develops batting skills and contributes to the team. Ashwin the bowler cannot be matched with anybody else – the quickest to 250 wickets in the world, but his batting has been an eye-opener.
After 4 Test centuries (7 in first-class) and 2,000 Test runs, he averages 32.5.
He bats at number 6 – a position of a specialist batsman, which was occupied for many years by VVS Laxman! Ashwin’s supreme test will be to try and retain the number 6 slot, when India travel to South Africa, later this year.
Same with Ravindra Jadeja, whose career batting record shows a strange difference at Ranji and the Test level. Anyone who has scored 3 triple hundreds should be a serious batsman but Jadeja, for all his success in Ranji, is not yet a Test batsman.
Bats as low as number 9, which confirms that he is not the all-rounder India is searching for. The role assigned to him is to be Ashwin's spin partner, ahead of Kuldeep Yadav and Amit Mishra.
So , will Indian cricket's Test all-rounder ki khoj end with Hardik Pandya? For this to happen, Hardik will have to step up and outgrow the limitations imposed by T20 cricket.
Test cricket demands an all-rounder to bowl 20 overs in an innings, not 4 in two spells. It also requires a batsman to play out tough sessions.
Does Hardik have the ability and the temperament to adapt his game for such situations? Is he the answer to MSK Prasad and Virat's quest for the next Kapil Dev or Ravi Shastri?
As the wise have said: time will tell!
(Amrit Mathur is a senior journalist, former GM of the BCCI and Manager of the Indian Cricket Team. He can be reached at @AmritMathur1)
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