The search for a genuine all-rounder continues
India today is in dire need of an all-rounder
Woorkheri Raman
01-Oct-2001
India today is in dire need of an all-rounder. The search for one has
been carried out frantically in the last few years. Unfortunately, not
one cricketer has come anywhere close to fitting that bill and the
tragedy of it all is that a few up and down versions in cricket have
been compulsorily given the tag of all-rounders. The eighties saw World
cricket dominated by all-rounders like Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Ian Botham
and Sir Richard Hadlee.
One of the reasons why India is struggling to find an allrounder is that there has been no genuine effort in encouraging potential candidates. Someone like Kumble could have been thrust with the extra responsibility in batting which may have made him a very capable all-rounder... |
In recent times, the term all-rounder has drawn differing explanations
from different sources. I for one believe a genuine all-rounder is one
who can fit into the side either as a bowler or as a batsman and be the
leading performer. In the present scenario the Indians are sorely
missing the presence of an all-rounder in both forms of the game. In
fact they are struggling to find utility cricketers in the mould of
Roger Binny, Madan Lal, Manoj Prabhakar and Chetan Sharma who played key
roles in major triumphs for the country.
One of the reasons why India is struggling to find an all-rounder is
that there has been no genuine effort in encouraging potential
candidates. Someone like Kumble could have been thrust with the extra
responsibility in batting which may have made him a very capable allrounder. Ajit Agarkar had the makings of an all-rounder but somehow he
was too injury prone to become one apart from his batting letting him
down. Robin Singh was another potential candidate but his forced exile
for seven seasons meant that his pace had deteriorated too much to cause
discomfort at the top level.
Being an all-rounder does give both the team and individual a distinct
advantage. In the case of the team, an all-rounder provides the
flexibility and that extra little room for manipulation. It also takes a
lot on the individual to become a genuine all-rounder. Firstly, a
genuine all rounder has to be twice as fit as the others. Secondly he
has to have adaptability and the flexibility in thinking as well.
Reetinder Sodhi is tipped to be the candidate who will fill up the
vacant slot of an all-rounder. He has the fitness, but from what he has
displayed so far in international cricket, he has a long way to go
before anyone can seriously bank on him to take the world by storm.
Sodhi also falls in the category of a batting all-rounder and that
coupled with the fact that pitches in India are rarely bowler friendly
may well mean that Sodhi will take the easy out by concentrating more on
his batting than bowling. It is no secret that he has to work a lot on
his bowling to make an impact at the top level. It will be interesting
to see if his much spoken about attitude helps him beat the odds stacked
against him.