Hats off to 5 star all-rounders of Indian Test cricket (Column: Close-in)

Most youngsters, when they start to play the game, try their hand at batting and bowling, hoping to be outstanding at both. Gradually as one goes up the ranks, the numbers dwindle. Finally, at the highest level, very few make it to becoming masters at both these skills.

This is precisely why as a cricketer Sir Garry Sobers is ranked as the best. Sobers, was one of the most accomplished cricketers to have ever played the game, a phenomenally good batsman, a world class pace and spin bowler and an excellent fielder.

I have been very fortunate to have played and watched some outstanding all-rounders during my days. Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Mike Proctor, Clive Rice and Kapil Dev stole the show on most occasions. All of them played the game with a flair that made cricket so pleasurable to watch.

They were all aggressive bowlers and could turn the match, at times, upside down with their batting. On their day each one of them was a match winner. They were equally potent with the ball as well as with the bat.

Indian cricket has had over the years many all-rounders, but only a handful, according to me, have actually made the mark to be at the top.

The first to adorn the blue ribbon as an allrounder would be Vinoo Mankad. His feats are legendry not only as one of India’s greatest spin bowlers but also as a very accomplished batter. He played many a successful part as a bowler and as a batsman in India’s performances in their earlier days of Test cricket.

The one who many feel surpassed Vinoo Mankad was none other than one of India’s finest cricketers, Kapil Dev Nikhanj. A gifted ball player who was considered to be one of the best in the world. He ignited Indian cricket and at times single-handedly took the team to victory. Kapil was born to play cricket and there was never a dull moment when he was batting, bowling or fielding.

The third in line would be the heartthrob of yesteryears, Dattu Phadkar. A medium-fast bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman born in Kolhapur and educated in Mumbai, was a star of Indian cricket. His record against the mighty Australian side of 1948 in Australia and then against the West Indies at home showed what a fantastic cricketer he was during his days.

He also has the distinction of getting the great “Don” out and along with Mankad, India had two formidable outstanding allrounders in their midst.

The handsome and debonair cricketer born in Afghanistan and brought up in Jamnagar, Salim Aziz Durani was one of the most talented and naturally gifted cricketers to ever play the game. A fantastic but moody bowler and the six hitter darling of the crowd was an all-round cricketer to marvel at.

The soft-spoken genius had a super cricketing brain and a heart of gold. I remember an incident as a non-striker playing against him. My colleague and fellow cricketer, Raju Bhalekar, hit him in the mid-wicket region and gave him a glare.

He told me that he would get him out in the next delivery and low and behold he bowled him with a beauty. Naturally, my next question to him was my fate which he laughingly said to me to not worry and keep batting.

Apparently, one gathers, not only from him but his teammates as well as to how he requested captain Ajit Wadekar to give him the ball during the second Test in Port of Spain in the West Indies to get Clive Lloyd and Sobers out. He did so the next day and India went on to win the Test match and the series for the first time against them.

The fifth of the star Indian all-rounders is another left arm spinner who rose to be a better asset as a batsman as well. The tall and lanky Ravi Shastri etched himself as a versatile cricketer purely on his guts, cricketing acumen, smartness and his ability to play on his strengths.

He made his debut as a spinner batting at number 10 and went on to establish himself as a reliable and frontline opener. His runs scored and wickets taken puts him very high on the performance scale.

He, unfortunately for Indian cricket, has been the last of the great all-rounders to play for India. The nearest to have come to him in the recent years would be Yuvraj Singh.

India presently misses having a top class all-rounder and one hopes Shastri, the present coach of Indian cricket, brings forth his experience to make India’s two talented all-rounders, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, rise to their full potential.

In the many decades of Indian cricket, there have been many talented cricketers who one can rank as useful allrounders as well. The great C.K. Nayudu, Lala Amarnath, Amar Singh, G.S. Ramchand, Bapu Nadkarni, Russi Surti, Abid Ali, Eknath Solkar, Mohinder Amarnath, Madanlal, Manoj Prabhakar, Roger Binny, Ajit Agarkar and many more.

But Hats off to the five all-time great all-rounders of Indian cricket — Vinoo Mankad, Kapil Dev, Dattu Phadkar, Salim Durani and Ravi Shastri. Take a bow!

(Yajurvindra Singh is a former Test cricketer. Views expressed are personal)

–IANS<br>ys/aak/