Jacques Kallis, one of the last multi-skilled legends, says quality all-rounders have become a scarcity in modern-day cricket, especially in Test cricket, because of “too much cricket across formats.”.
While Sir Garfield Sobers (8032 runs and 235 wickets) is considered ‘greatest of ‘em all’ across generations, Kallis (25,000-plus runs and nearly 600 wickets in three formats) is inarguably one of the most legendary all-rounders the modern era has seen.
In the 1980s, there were four great all-rounders in Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham and Kapil Dev while the new millennium saw the emergence of Kallis and Andrew Flintoff.
But the advent of T20 cricket and mushrooming leagues across the globe with new rules have actually discouraged the development of multi-skilled cricketers.
“It is a tough question to answer; all-rounders don’t come around every day. There haven’t been many throughout history. A lot of things and the amount of cricket that is played certainly play a role,” Kallis said.
The former Proteas captain is in India to play the Legends League Cricket.
While he didn’t name the Indian Premier League, the former KKR coach isn’t a great fan of the ‘Impact Player’ rule, where a team can change one player during its batting or bowling innings as per need.
“A few T20 competitions have substitutes (IPL) and I am not a big fan of that as it takes away the all-rounder out of your team. The teams that do not have good all-rounders are now playing with 12 men. I am not a huge fan of that.
“There are lot of little things that add up on to why there aren’t too many all-rounders at the moment, as it is surprising as they add so much value to the game. But it’s a whole lot of little things coming together,” Kallis said.
