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India has historically been a country which has produced some world-class batters. However, there have been some all-rounder cricketers who have made a significant impact. Be it with bat or ball, they have made their performances do the talking. Hence, here we take a look at five of the best all-rounders to have played for the India cricket team.
Kapil Dev
Kapil Dev was arguably the first genuine fast bowler to have come out of India. And he is one of the greatest all-rounders to have played for India. The Haryana pace-bowling all-rounder was an integral part of the India cricket team for a decade and a half. He was a part of that famous quartet of all-rounders in the 1980s which comprised of Iam Botham, Richard Hadlee and Imran Khan.
The 1983 World Cup win for India cricket under his captaincy sits at the top of his achievements but there were plenty others. He played 131 Test matches and returned with 434 wickets at an average of 29.64. When he retired in 1994, his 434 were the most wickets by any bowler in Test cricket. He has scored 5248 runs at an average of 31.05. As far as ODIs are concerned, he got 3783 runs at an average of 23.79 and a strike-rate of 95.07. With the ball, he took 253 wickets at an economy rate of 3.71.
Ever since his retirement, India have constantly been on the hunt for their next Kapil Dev aka a proper seam-bowling all-rounder.
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja has been supremely consistent in Test cricket and he has fared quite well in the shorter formats of the game as well. He has been India’s premier all-rounder across formats for a number of years now.
Having made his white-ball debut in 2009, the left-arm spinning all-rounder impressed with the ball first before showcasing his talent with the ball. It took him a few more years to make his Test debut which came in December 2012, three and a half years after his ODI and T20I debut. Since then, he has been critical to the balance of the side for India. While he was away from the white-ball setup for a brief period in 2017-18, he roared back with stellar performances a year later.
Jadeja has played a total of 346 matches for India across all three formats. His Test record reads 3130 runs while averaging 35.97. With the ball, he has got 306 wickets at an average of 23.87. He has 220 and 54 wickets in ODIs and T20Is respectively. Meanwhile, his batting numbers are 2756 and 515 runs in the two formats respectively.
Ravichandran Ashwin
There is absolutely no doubt that Ravichandran Ashwin will go down as one of the all-time great India cricket players. The Tamil Nadu off-spinner has been breaking numerous records over the years. He has been one of the key match-winners for the Indian cricket team in the past decade and a half.
Ashwin made his ODI and T20I debut in 2010 while his Test debut came a year later. Over the last 14 years, he has been at the heart of India’s dominance at home in Test cricket and he has fared well even away from home. He has a staggering 527 wickets (second-most in India’s Test cricket history) at an average of 23.65. The Chennai-born off-spinner has registered 37 five-wicket hauls, the second-most in Test cricket’s history. Add to that, six Test hundreds and 3423 runs at an average of 26.74. In fact, he has 11 Player of the Series awards which is the joint-most by any player.
His white-ball numbers are pretty good too. Ashwin has returned with 156 wickets in 116 ODIs at an economy of 4.93. In T20Is, he has 72 scalps in 65 matches at an economy of 6.90. He has the ability to play some useful cameos in the lower order.
Hardik Pandya
India’s ever-lasting search for a seam-bowling all-rounder bore some fruit when Hardik Pandya made his debut in 2016. It was T20I cricket first before he made an impression in the 50-over format. His impressive showing led to his selection in the Test team as well. However, constant injuries and rehabs have forced him to focus only on the shorter formats for now.
Pandya has been at the core of India’s balance in white-ball cricket. His presence allows India that flexibility to either play an extra pacer or an extra spinner. In fact, during his initial years, he batted at No. 7 which meant India could play an extra batter. In his prime, Pandya can play game-changing knocks with the bat in the middle-order and bowl at a decent pace, picking up wickets at regular intervals.
Over the last eight years, the Baroda all-rounder has featured in 105 T20Is and has scored 1641 runs while striking at 145.09. He has taken 87 wickets with the ball which puts him fourth on the list of most wickets for India in T20Is. In ODIs, he has 1769 runs and 84 wickets from 86 matches. He has featured in 11 Tests and has returned with 532 runs at an average of 31.29 along with 17 wickets with the ball.
Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj Singh played a vital role in two of India’s big ICC victories – the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 World Cup. He produced impactful performances in both tournaments. He hit game-changing fifties against England and Australia in the 2007 T20 World Cup while he got 362 runs and took 15 wickets in the 2011 World Cup where he was awarded the Player of the Tournament.
The stylish left-handed all-rounder made his India debut in 2000 in the ICC Knockout Trophy and showcased his ability and talent in his very first knock against Australia. Post that, for more than a decade, he was almost a certainty in India’s starting XI in ODI cricket and then, in T20Is. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 which kept him out of action for almost a year.
Yuvraj did make a comeback in 2012 but he didn’t quite get his flow back. He was constantly in and out of the white-ball teams between 2013 and 2017 before he was dropped. Even in the times when he was in and out of the team, he showed glimpses of his talent and match-winning prowess. Overall, he featured in 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20Is. Yuvraj ended up with 1900 runs at an average of 33.92 in the longest format, 8701 runs at an average of 36.55 in ODIs and 1177 runs at an average of 28.02 (strike-rate of 136.38) in T20Is. He took a total of 148 wickets in international cricket and 111 of those came in the 50-over format.
