If you have a player in all three formats who can win matches with the bat or the ball, that’s a very good sign for any team. Today, there are many good all-rounders in Team India. Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Hooda, and a few other all-rounders whose emergence and performance are good signs for Indian cricket.
The way Hardik Pandya has come back is truly unbelievable. Before IPL, nobody used to talk about Hardik. He was out of the discussion too, but today Hardik Pandya’s dunk is playing all over the world, and the all-rounder we were looking for a long time, we got Hardik Pandya’s. I have got it in the form and I congratulate the Indian team on this achievement. For this, I agree with what Ravi Shastri said in the context of ODI cricket and Hardik because we should not forget that the last tour did not go well for Hardik. He got injured several times during that time, but now Hardik is fit and hitting. Had Hardik not been injured earlier, I would have said that he should play all three formats. But in today’s context, I agree with Ravi Bhai.
The big issue is how long Hardik can maintain his fitness. At the moment, Hardik is bowling very well and is also bowling at a fast pace, which we have not seen him do for a long time. Now the Indian team will have to think very carefully about how to use Hardik because the T20 World Cup and the 50-over World Cup are very close now and Hardik is going to play an important role in both these World Cups.
An all-rounder is not only a good batsman or a good bowler, but he should also be a good fielder, and our top three all-rounders—Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja—are also excellent fielders in front of whom the opposition team thinks many times before taking runs, while Shardul Thakur is also one of those all-rounders who can score runs with the ball as well as with the bat. When our top order gets out early, then the entire responsibility shifts to the lower middle order. From time to time, our all-rounders have been taking the team out of pressure and have won many times. This proves that Indian all-rounders are ringing in the world at this time and it is a matter of pride for the Indian team.
The writer has played for Team India