Since Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach, India’s Test team has won just seven of their last 18 matches, with four wins coming against relatively weaker teams like Bangladesh and West Indies. The team’s limited success includes a dominant series win against Bangladesh last year, followed by a home series whitewash to New Zealand and a 3-1 loss to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25, which ultimately cost India a spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final.
Recently, under new captain Shubman Gill, India levelled the five-Test series against England in the United Kingdom, and followed that with a comfortable series win over West Indies. A commonality in these matches has been the preference to field an extra all-rounder over a specialist bowler, a strategy that has mostly backfired.
With Gill injured and expected to miss the next Test in Guwahati, the spotlight now falls on India’s playing XI choices. The debate around all-rounders was further fueled by India’s recent loss to South Africa at the iconic Eden Gardens, where the visitors notched their first victory in India in 15 years. The defeat exposed India’s struggles with balance, particularly on home soil.
The hosts played an all-rounder in Washington Sundar at No. 3 instead of specialist batter Sai Sudharsan. The strategy faltered during the chase of a modest 124-run target, where India was bowled out for 93, courtesy the off-spin of Simon Harmer as the Shubman Gill-led side lost the match by 30 runs.
Taking a pointed dig at Gautam Gambhir-led support staff, Gavaskar warned against selecting all-rounders lacking strong credentials as either specialist batters or bowlers.
“India also needs to understand the difference between a Test all-rounder and a limited-overs all-rounder. A genuine Test all-rounder is someone who could make the eleven solely as a batter or as a bowler. A player who only offers a few overs or a few runs is not what Test cricket demands. A proper batter who can chip in with the ball is fine, just as a regular bowler who can hold up an end with the bat is valuable. But selecting a player who would not make the side purely as a batter or as a bowler might work in the short term, yet it does not add real value,” wrote Gavaskar in his Sportstar column.
Gavaskar’s criticism goes beyond the single match, underlining the need for India to fully understand the distinct requirements of Test cricket against limited-overs formats. Without this clarity and a focus on specialist skill sets, India risks missing out on the World Test Championship (WTC) final again, as they did this June. With almost a year until the next home Test, this message is particularly timely.
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In pursuit of this balance, since July 2024, India have experimented with several all-rounders such as Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, while stalwarts like Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin (retired last year), and Axar Patel remained fixtures in the team.
Though Jadeja and Washington Sundar have shown solid all-round contributions – Jadeja with 999 runs at an average of 47.57 and 48 wickets, most by an Indian spinner, and Sundar, with 556 runs in 12 matches at 37.06 and 29 wickets – others have struggled. Nitish Reddy, despite decent batting numbers, has been underwhelming with the ball and has fared decently with the bat (scoring 386 runs at 29.69), claiming just eight wickets at a high average and often not bowling much.
The stats of Harshit Rana and Shardul Thakur are even worse. The duo’s bowling returns have been even less impressive, raising questions about the effectiveness of playing all-rounders who do not consistently contribute in both departments. Rana managed seven runs and four wickets in two matches, which too on pace-friendly pitches in Australia. On the other hand, Shardul Thakur, who returned to the side after a long layoff during the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy (ATT) 2025 in England, scored 46 runs at an average of 15.33 and picked up 2 wickets at an average of 72.
This inconsistency has put India under persistent pressure, which ultimately affected their ability to take 20 wickets and post big totals, a fundamental requirement in Test wins.
The second Test between India and South Africa in Guwahati begins on November 22. India would look to bounce back with a win to avoid yet another whitewash, while South Africa aim to continue their winning spree. The challenge for India remains the same: identifying and prioritising true and match-winning Test all-rounders rather than applying white-ball selection criteria with the longer format’s demands.
Currently, India stands fourth in the WTC points table with four wins, three losses, and a draw, with 54.17 percentage points, behind Australia (100), South Africa (66.67), and Sri Lanka (66.67).
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