So-called Indian All-rounders saga!

2014. India vs Newzeland series. Mahendra Singh Dhoni in a press conference said, “Ashwin and Jadeja are our All-rounders, they provide stability to our bowling and lower middle-order.” Realistically that is the case still. Let’s weigh up other all-rounder options which emerged for Indian team recently.

STR Binny: Out of 9 matches, he managed to step in to the field neither as a substitute nor as a drinks boy. But in playing 11, he managed to take 13 wickets at an average of one wicket for 14.15 runs he concedes and a wicket every 18.7 balls he delivers. Looks staggering? Let's come back to reality. If we take out the Bangladesh tour out of equation his stats becomes 7 wickets in 6 matches with a wicket every 27.4 balls. Still looks decent. There are people who say that his bowling is doing alright and that his batting will pick up slowly to international standards. His first class stats stand at 3188 runs in 97 innings at an average of 34.65 which looks decent for an all-rounder! Binny’s case is a perfect example of “Stats doesn’t always speak about reality “.  Ironically, Even Mayanthi Agarwal(Cricket anchor and Binny’s better half) with all fairness to her profession will not see Stuart Binny in the Indian team. With all due respect to Binny’s abilities, he will just be an additional passenger in the team.

Axar Patel:  Another highly rated IPL child, he's a tall lanky left arm spinner and bowls straight at the stumps with subtle variations. In ODI’s, he managed to take 16 wickets in 10 innings he bowled, with a wicket every 25 runs he concedes. Again, if we take out performances in Bangladeshi soil, he was able to take only 5 wickets in 4 innings with his average taking a beating by going up to 33.40.That is nowhere near his IPL exploits. His batting suggests that he cannot be called an all-rounder for the time being at least as he has scored only 1 run in last three matches with two ducks. We cannot write him off because he is still raw and he needs to be groomed. But I'm not sure if he is the answer to our all-rounder crisis.

Rishi Dhawan: A Pace bowling all-rounder India has been longing for almost two decades. In List-A cricket, Rishi Dhawan have 3 centuries and 192 wickets in matches is a decent stat to possess for his chances to break in to the Indian team for the long awaited pace bowling all-rounder spot. Realistically, following his performances in IPL, I get a feeling that he has a long way to go before breaking in to the first team. We at CricRace always believe IPL is the best stage where Raw Indian talents can be exposed to international environment. IPL is definitely the perfect platform for nurturing for Indian players. As such, Rishi Dhawan never looked like he belongs to the bigger stage, at least for the time being. If he can notch his game up by 3 or 4 gears, may be he can be ready for Team India.

In reality, it’s still Ashwin and Jadeja who are our best all rounder prospect. Let’s have a quick recap of their performances in the World cup! 

Ravichandran Ashwin:  A Front-line spinner who bowls in tough and crucial situations. Dhoni’s go to bowler in power-plays. He re-invented himself in World cup 2015 and arguably he was the best spinner in World cup 2015. He kept India on the hunt by checking the opposition from batting us out of the match. Even in Semi finals he managed to check the run flow during middle overs when Steve smith and Finch was in full flow. But, did he do justice to his All-rounder tag? (Eyebrow rises).

Ashwin was a miser in his bowling, 13 wickets with an economy of 4.28 runs per over and a wicket every 25.38 runs he conceded are signs of a champion bowler. Whereas, he was a miser in his batting too, barring his sensible batting against West Indies where he hung around with the Skipper and finished the match, there was no other meaningful contribution with his willow. We can’t say he never got a chance! He managed to play in 5 innings and faced 54 balls where he managed to score 30 runs.  As a low middle order batsman, you will be getting limited amount of deliveries to face, it’s up to the batsman to make the most of it, and he never did that! I know I am little harsh on Ashwin who had a fantastic World cup, just wanted to re-iterate the fact he is Champion bowler, definitely not a dependable all-rounder at least in ODI’s (In tests he still ranks 3 in official ICC rankings). So the search of an ODI All-rounder still persists. With his bowling peaking up at the right moment of his career, he will be our leading spinner for next World cup as well.

Ravindra Jadeja:  “Sir Ravindra Jadeja” as people fondly call him, has 3 triple centuries in domestic cricket. But, sorry buddy, you never really brought your batting in to International arena. He already played 119 ODI matches. He is no longer new to International cricket. In World cup, he came in to bat 5 times, got out 4 times and scored 57 runs  barring 23*(not out) against Bangladesh there was no absolutely no contribution from his side to the batting department. His shot selection against West Indies disappointed the Captain big time, while the team was grinding run by run towards victory, he skied one and gave catching practice to the deep fielder. “He needs to improve and needs to step up really. We have a lot of faith in him but at the end of the day you can’t really play with hope”, disappointed Dhoni told reporters about Jadeja's batting against West Indies. This really shows Jadeja's lack of application to the match situation. He just plays one way and that way is definitely not helping the team's cause. If there were some good patches in his performances it has to be his fielding, he was and is an outstanding fielder. He lived up to his potential in fielding department, his rocket throws from deep and crucial stops in the inner circle and couple of run-outs he effected which were really instrumental. Whereas his bowling has become little suspect against players who wished to take the attack to the opposition. Not sure how many noted, while playing for CSK, Dhoni doesn’t always give Jadeja his full quota of overs.  He is the 5th or 6th choice bowler for CSK. Clearly indicating he is not the kind of blower to bowl while opposition is in aggressive mode. (Note that, IPL is played in India, dry spinning wickets). By the way, in World cup 2015, he managed to take 9 wickets with an economy of 5.35 is little high for a spinner. With his batting and bowling in mediocrity, it’s his fielding and his enthusiasm saves his place in the Indian squad (additionally Indian management is not willing to go with 4 bowlers), Not sure how long that will protect his place in the first team. With all fairness, I do not see him holding on to his place in 2019 World Cup unless he shows promise with bat. This makes a spot vacant in the Indian team and who knows IPL 2015 can change fortunes! It can either cement Jadeja’s place (Jadeja still ranks 8 th in Official ICC ODI all-rounder rankings) or bring out a new talent to replace.

IPL2015 is going to be more Crucial than ever!

Hopefully, we will find our All-rounder soon.

Time for IPL, We at Cricrace will cover IPL as well, concentrating more on Indian talents.

Until then, have a good one!