Team India might have produced a number of multi-skilled cricketers over the years, but former New Zealand player Scott Styris believes Hardik Pandya and the legendary Kapil Dev are the only two worthy of being deemed as genuine all-rounders.
For his 5248 runs and 434 wickets in 131 Tests in addition to 3783 runs and 253 scalps in 225 ODIs, Kapil is widely regarded as the best all-rounder India has ever produced. On the other hand, Hardik has also improved by leaps and bounds in the last couple of years and boasts an impressive record.
“India, I think over the years have really had two and that’s Kapil Dev and Hardik Pandya. It’s not an insult to say that there aren’t any players who are genuine all-rounders. I would say there’s a lot of potential to be enhanced,” Styris quoted as saying by Cricket Country.
“Maybe there’s a little misconception about who is an all-rounder. There are very few players who can command a spot in the team with both bat and ball. By that I mean, if your batting wasn’t any good you will still be in the team for your bowling and if your bowling wasn’t any good you will still be in the team for your batting. Over the years, worldwide there have been very few players like that. So an all-rounder isn’t someone who simply just bats and bowls, he must command a spot with one discipline. And that’s usually being in the top four or five with the bat or as a frontline bowler where no matter what, he will get three or four overs in a T20 or 10 overs in a one-dayer,” he explained.
Elaborating the traits of a genuine allrounder, Styris cited an example of his former Kiwi teammate.
“I think what you find with all-rounders is a mentality and a mindset that they have over other players, they always want to be in the game. They are not happy just grazing in the outfield, standing out there and not doing anything for the full 20 overs, or full 50 overs or a Test match. They want to be constantly involved. We had a great one, Chris Cairns. And Chris Cairns always talked about if he’s injured and couldn’t bowl, he didn’t feel like he was the same player, even though he would still be able to bat because he was very, very good. He needed both disciplines to feel like he was a full cricketer,” he said of Cairns, who scored 8273 runs and grabbed 420 international wickets.
Styris, himself an all-rounder for New Zealand scoring over 6000 international runs and taking 175 wickets across 248 games, also talked about his evolution.
“I was like most New Zealand kids, who play a lot of sports. So you’re always involved, always active. Obviously, I wasn’t happy just standing in the field and not getting to bowl. I grew up as a batsman but it flipped over later on my First Class opportunity where I was a bowler first and batted down the order. And then I flipped back to what it always was. So you know, that’s the other thing with all-rounders, it doesn’t always develop in the same way,” he remarked.
