Here’s a list of good and great all-rounders who have enriched Test cricket with their performances – Garry Sobers, Imran Khan, Keith Miller, Aubrey Faulkner, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, Shaun Pollock, Mike Procter, Jacques Kallis, Ben Stokes, Shakib Al Hasan and many more. The idea behind the list is to not pit them against each other, but to ram home the point that possessing an all-rounder balances the side. It gives you an option to play five bowlers, which in turn helps the team complete one of the key tasks in the longest format – Pick 20 wickets in a Test match.
In that backdrop, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Indian setups over the last decade have tried to adhere to the five-bowler theory. Even back in 2014 and in 2015, India were looking to employ Stuart Binny as the fifth bowler. Although, after a few games, it was crystal clear that Binny wasn’t cut out for Test cricket.
Virat Kohli, who took over from MS Dhoni, then made the right call of ushering in Hardik Pandya into the Test setup. On especially away tours to S.E.N.A countries, Hardik’s skill set proved to be useful. After a couple of promising performances in Sri Lanka and South Africa, Hardik ripped through England’s batting order, in the first innings at Trent Bridge, and played a crucial role in India’s victory.
Yes, there were still question marks over his batting in Test cricket, but he had the ability to bowl more than enough overs. So, Hardik didn’t just pick up a few vital wickets, but those overs that he bowled meant that the mainstays of the pace attack could take a breather. Unfortunately, Hardik’s body couldn’t get used to the rigours of Test cricket. Soon, Shardul became the designated seam-bowling all-rounder when India toured countries outside Asia.
Shardul, who put on some gritty performances, also was dropped after the Centurion Test in 2023-24. The very next year, the Indian think tank, which includes the current head coach Gautam Gambhir, decided to show faith in the young Nitish Reddy in Australia. The young Nitish gave a glimpse of his promise with a valiant hundred at the MCG. However, despite his gutsy showing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, detractors point to Nitish’s bowling not being good enough to bowl around 15 overs in a day when India tour S.E.N.A nations.
Just do some number-crunching and you will observe that Nitish ended up bowling only 44 overs in the five-Test series in Australia. And that is less than nine overs per every Test. Compare that to someone like Hardik, who bowled 51 and 64.1 overs in three and four Tests during the tours of South Africa and England in 2018. Meanwhile, Shardul bowled 43 overs in a single Test at the Gabba during the 2021-22 Australian tour and 72.5 overs in the three-match series in South Africa in 2021-22.
Here, it has to be mentioned that Nitish is undoubtedly a better batsman in the longest format when compared to both Shardul and Hardik. However, the Indian management would most likely prefer a bowling all-rounder during the upcoming England tour. Someone who doesn’t just look like taking a few wickets, but can also give adequate rest to the vital cogs of the pace attack by bowling four or five-over spells. Intriguingly, Shardul has made a case to regain his place in the Indian Test squad. He took 35 wickets at 22.62 in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy, and at one point of time was the Purple Cap owner in the 2025 IPL.
The plan could be for India to select a jumbo-jet squad for the England series, with both Shardul and Nitish in it. Basically, if Nitish has to be picked in the playing XI, then it would be mostly for his batting skills. With two of India’s stalwarts – Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma – hanging up their spiked boots, it is time for the Indian backroom staff to identify young batters for Test cricket.
In that respect, Nitish showed the required temperament in Australia, which gave enough indicators that he could bat in the top six of the batting order. Just that, if you pick Nitish, his bowling is mostly an added bonus. The more logical option could be to select both Nitish and Shardul, with the latter batting at number 8. In the previous Test India played at the SCG, Washington Sundar was the number 8 batter. Just like Nitish, Washington is also a very competent batter. But with Ravindra Jadeja also in the mix, there is no need for the coaching staff to plump for two spinning all-rounders outside Asia.
With India going through a transition phase, enough jigsaw pieces are missing. One of them is the conundrum surrounding the seam-bowling all-rounder’s slot. All eyes will be zoomed in on the selectors and Gambhir as they try to steer the side through some tricky waters.
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