Why, even take some of the most successful Indian teams and it can beseen that the all-rounder has played an important role in victories.The Indian team of 1971, which completed a double triumph in WestIndies and England, had Abid Ali, while Eknath
Partab Ramchand15-Nov-2001Watching the Indian team struggle these days without an all-rounder,my mind goes back to the early 60s. Frank Worrell’s all-conqueringWest Indian side had routed India 5-0 at home and then defeatedEngland 3-1. The side was being regarded as one of the best of alltime, primarily because it was said, it had the ideal combination forTest matches five batsmen, two all-rounders, a wicket-keeper andthree bowlers.
Why, even take some of the most successful Indian teams and it canbe seen that the all-rounder has played an important role invictories. The Indian team of 1971, which completed a double triumphin West Indies and England, had Abid Ali, while Eknath Solkar, becauseof circumstances, was also forced into a utility role, performingcreditably.
Almost 40 years later, that would be still be the right combinationfor a successful Test team. Think of any of the great Test sides, andyou will see that they had one or two high-quality all-rounders. Ifone goes back even 80 years to the first side that is reckoned to beone of the great Test combinations of all time Warwick Armstrong’sformidable Australian squad of the early 20s it will be observedthat it had two fine all-rounders in Jack Gregory and the skipperhimself.Consider another combination that is considered one of the greatestsquads of all time Don Bradman’s Invincibles, the Australian side ofthe late 40s – and you will see the name of Keith Miller figuringprominently in the many triumphs. Why, even take some of the mostsuccessful Indian teams and it can be seen that the all-rounder hasplayed an important role in victories. The Indian team of 1971, whichcompleted a double triumph in West Indies and England, had Abid Ali,while Eknath Solkar, because of circumstances, was also forced into autility role, performing creditably.The 1976 team at Port of Spain, which notched up one of the mostremarkable victories in Test cricket, had Madan Lal and MohinderAmarnath, while the teams that registered the great triumphs atMelbourne in 1981 and in England in 1986 had the omnipotent presenceof Kapil Dev. At Melbourne, Kapil had Karsan Ghavri by his side, whilein the twin triumphs in England five years later, there was anembarrassment of riches for, as skipper, Kapil could count on theservices of Roger Binny, Madan Lal and Ravi Shastri.The current Indian team, soldiering along without an all-rounder forsome time now, can take heart from the fact that some remarkablysuccessful sides have not possessed such a utility man. The formidableAustralian team of the mid-70s under the Chappell brothers regularlyfielded teams that were a combination of six batsmen, a battingwicket-keeper and four bowlers. Clive Lloyd’s fearsome West Indiansquad of the 80s also took the field with much the same combination inrunning up their record run of 11 successive wins, 26 matches withoutdefeat, and two consecutive `blackwashes’ over England.But of course, in such circumstances, both the batting and bowlingwere of the awesome kind. An Australian attack of Dennis Lillee, JeffThomson, Max Walker and Ashley Mallett was the perfect back-up to abatting line-up that included Rick Cosker, Ian Redpath, the Chappells,Ross Edwards, Doug Walters and Rodney Marsh. Similarly, in the 80s,Clive Lloyd did not really need the services of an all-rounder whenthe batting consisted of Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, RichieRichardson, Larry Gomes, Vivian Richards, Jeff Dujon and himself,backed by a fearsome bowling quartet of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding,Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall.The present Indian squad has a niggling problem of a missing allrounder. But what prevents them from duplicating the feats of theAustralian and West Indian sides just mentioned is that the bowling isnot up to the mark, even on paper. The problem gets compounded whenthe batting, which on paper looks pretty solid and even exciting, doesnot perform up to potential. Certainly, on both form and reputation, aline-up of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVSLaxman, together with the promise of Shiv Sundar Das and VirenderSehwag, does not compare unfavourably with the batting of both theoutstanding teams already cited even if the bowling admittedly isseveral notches below the attacks mentioned. The onus is thus on thebatsmen to come good and to play up to potential if the side is to dowell. It is true that batsmen rarely win matches all on their own, butthey can at least save them, can’t they?