From Shreyas to Mayank, we look at India’s specialist limited-overs batsmen and explore if there’s a potential sixth bowler hidden in there somewhere.
Ask Indian fans to talk about India’s part-time bowlers and they will gush about the bowling exploits of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, and convince you that Yuvraj Singh was indeed a born all-rounder. In the 1990s and 2000s, India was packed with bowling options beyond the specialists, a string of part-timers who could be trusted to send down useful overs, sometimes even called on to break partnerships.
The current set-up is conspicuously devoid of that dimension; in Virat Kohli’s India, there’s an arsenal of specialist bowling options and enough backup depth, but the batsmen in the team just don’t seem to be blessed with decent bowling abilities, leaving the limited-overs side in desperate need of better balance. Or do they? Perhaps there are some hidden golden arms just waiting for their moment to shine.
The following batsmen featured in the Australia-India limited-overs leg: we take a closer look at their bowling accomplishments and try to investigate if there’s a hidden part-timer waiting to be uncovered.
☝️ Darts one into Kallis
☝️ Turns one away from RhodesHas there been a part-timer as versatile as @sachin_rt?
📽️ @cric_archivistpic.twitter.com/eR2GnXiYxK
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) November 20, 2020
Manish Pandey
Style: Right-arm medium
High profile victims: Shreyas Iyer, Yusuf Pathan
Known best for his crisp strokeplay, Manish Pandey has never rolled his arm over in any of his 65 international matches. His Cricinfo profile mentions him as a ‘right-arm medium’ bowler, which we assume would be of the dibbly-dobbly tripe.
That said, Pandey does actually have five first-class wickets and ten T20 wickets to his name, and once claimed back-t0-back four-wicket hauls in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy, India’s domestic T20 competition, in 2013. The fact that he hasn’t bowled in competitive cricket since 2014 tells you that there’s some story of a tweaked shoulder or a forgettable spell buried in there.
Shikhar Dhawan
Style: Off-break
High-profile victims: David Warner, Virender Sehwag
We might never see Shikhar Dhawan bowl for the remainder of his international career, not because he doesn’t want to, but because ICC once reported him for a suspect action. His part-time off-breaks came under the scanner during South Africa’s tour to India in 2015, where he bowled the last of his nine overs in Test cricket, none of which gave him a wicket.
At the domestic level, Dhawan was occasionally used at the U-16 and U-17 level, before he progressed to the next stage, sending down overs for India A and then Deccan Chargers in IPL. Across different formats, he has dismissed Glenn Maxwell twice, and David Warner, Tim Paine and Shaun Marsh once in domestic cricket. The bowler India needs but doesn’t deserve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udE-VqNKliQ&ab_channel=BHARATNEWS24
Mayank Agarwal
Style: Right-arm off-break
High-profile: Ben Stokes, KL Rahul
Call it experimentation or desperation, Mayank Agarwal, India’s Test opener, was tried out in the Australia ODIs. The bowling action wasn’t bad, but Australia’s batsmen were unbothered by the bait.
Mayank has just three first-class wickets, but has occasionally bowled at lower levels: he once plucked Ben Stokes’ wicket in the 2010 U19 World Cup and snared KL Rahul in a domestic T20 game. Giant-slayer, we’d like to call him, and the closest India possibly has to even a semi part-timer.
Shreyas Iyer
Style: Leg-break googly
Notable victim: Quinton de Kock
A couple of years ago, when he was fighting for a middle-order spot with Kedar Jadhav, Iyer announced that he was adding ‘another dimension to his game’ by working on his leg-breaks. In 45 international games, Iyer has sent down two overs, but has a more established record at the domestic level, having pouched four first-class wickets and five List A wickets.
Over the last couple of years, he’s turned his arm over for Mumbai and India developmental sides, and could indeed be a realistic option if he has worked on his bowling chops.
Sanju Samson
Style: Right-arm off-break
When he’s not behind the stumps, wicketkeeper Sanju Samson is flying at the boundary line, effecting spectacular saves, but is unlikely to be entrusted with bowling responsibilities at the highest level. He’s taken exactly one wicket in T20s, where he was tried as the eighth bowler. Possibly the least likely part-timer of the lot.
KL Rahul
Style: Right-arm off-break
There’s a running joke in Indian cricket circles that KL Rahul should be India’s next Prime Minister, for he can do just about anything. The 28-year-old has opened the innings, anchored the middle order, kept wicket in all three formats, but is yet to bowl for the India team. It’s unlikely that chapter will ever open.
Rahul has bowled a bit in first-class cricket and has a List A wicket to his name, but given his workload, combined with his back issues, his off-breaks might never grace international cricket.
Shubman Gill
Style: Right-arm off-break
Given the competition for batting slots in the Indian team, it wouldn’t be a bad call for Gill to brush up his off-breaks. His bowling has been a rare presence in domestic cricket: he’s taken a couple of wickets for India U-19s and has also turned his arm over in first-class cricket, as recent as the 2019/20 Duleep Trophy.
Another unlikely option, unless he’s been secretly honing his skills in his backyard during lockdown.
Virat Kohli
Style: Right-arm medium
Notable victims: Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen
Let’s save the best (?) for the last. Virat Kohli possibly has the most detailed bowling resume in this lot, and in 2017, surprisingly became India’s highest-ranked T20I all-rounder. He even bowled the final over in India’s 2016 World T20 defeat to West Indies.
His tally of eight international wickets do not reveal the ungainly action (flailing arms and legs, ball slipping out of the hand), but Kohli’s bowling used to be a surprise element nonetheless before it almost completely disappeared from existence in 2017.
Kohli has bowled over 160 overs for India, but might never bowl again, owing to back issues over the last few years. Another realistic option probably lost forever.
Notable mention: Rohit Sharma, who didn’t feature in the Australia series, is known to be a handy part-time option, has a taken a few international scalps. However, his shoulder issues have stunted his growth as an occasional bowler, and it’s unlikely that the Indian opener will bowl again at the international stage.
