All-rounders play a crucial role in strengthening the position of the team. They contribute in all the aspects of the game and their performance helps in deciding the fortunes of the game. Legendary Indian skipper Kapil Dev opened up about the Indian all-rounders, in a conversation with veteran sports journalist Ayaz Memon.
Kapil Dev, who is hailed as one of the best all-rounders of his time, feels that though team India has a lot of talented all-rounders on their side but they still need to work hard in strengthening the all-rounder’s department.
Kapil Dev feels that India should aim to develop more all-rounders, while also suggesting that everybody in the team should try to bowl a few overs. As per him, having a batting and a bowling all-rounder in the side should be the way going ahead. He said:
“If one gets injured, you can still adjust. But if both all-rounders get injured then it can be very tough to adjust. So I would say… I look forward to two all-rounders: a batting all-rounder and a bowling all-rounder. Sachin Tendulkar or Sourav Ganguly were all-rounders who could bowl a few overs but were mainly batsmen. Players like Virat, Rohit don’t bowl at all, so it’s difficult in T20. Everybody should try to bowl a few overs every day to keep the rhythm going.”
Talking about the all-rounders, the Indian cricket team has the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya on the side. Over the years, we have seen a few more names contributing with both bat and the ball.
Further, Kapil Dev talked about the importance of having all-rounders in T2-s and also pointed out that having options in the all-rounder department helps the captain to have a good balance in the team. He said:
“For a captain, two all-rounders are very important – batting all-rounder and bowling all-rounder. Hardik is a batting all-rounder, while I was a bowling all-rounder. So, if a captain can have two such all-rounders in T20, it really helps them. The team becomes solid. You can go with two extra players who can take responsibility of the team. But if you have one all-rounder, the captain struggles,”
