India's top 5 Test Match all-rounders of all time
In Test cricket, India has produced many great batsmen over the years, from the likes of Lala Amarnath, Vijay Merchant, Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath and Dilip Vengsarkar in the earlier years to modern-day greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli.
In the bowling department also India has produced many champions like Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Bishan Singh Bedi, B Chandrasekhar, Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath.
But in the department of all-rounders, India have only produced a handful of great players in their long history of Test cricket.
In this article we talk about those Indian all-rounders who have had a sterling career and made their country proud in Test cricket. We also try and pick the best 5 Indian Test all-rounders of all time.
#5. Ravi Shastri (right-handed batsman and left-arm spinner)
Matches: 80 Runs: 3830 Batting Average: 35.79 Hundreds: 11 Highest Score: 206 Wickets: 151 Bowling Average: 40.96 5 wk hauls: 2 10 wk hauls: 0
Ravi Shastri was one of India's premier all-rounders in Ttest cricket in the 1980s. He started off his career as a bowler who could bat, but graduated up the batting order and became one of the front-line batsmen of the team. He played many important innings for his country and scored as many as 11 centuries. With the ball also, he took more than 150 Test wickets and bowled quite a few match-winning spells. Although Shastri was not the best in the world, he was definitely one of the top Indian all-rounders of all time.
#4. Ravindra Jadeja (left-handed batsman and left-arm spinner)
Matches: 48 Runs: 1844 Batting Average: 35.46 Hundreds: 1 Highest Score: 100* Wickets: 211 Bowling Average: 24.64 5 wk hauls: 9 10 wk hauls: 1
Ravindra Jadeja is still an active member of the present Indian test squad. He is a prolific all-rounder. His spin bowling in Indian conditions, is one of the best in the world. Jadeja and R Ashwin have been the pillars of the Indian spin attack, in Test matches, for the last decade. In the last few years, he has also improved as a test batsman and played many important knocks with the bat. He is surely one of best Indian all-rounders in the history of test cricket.
#3. Vinoo Mankad (right-handed batsman and left-arm spinner)
Matches: 44 Runs: 2109 Batting Average: 31.47 Hundreds: 5 Highest Score: 231 Wickets: 162 Bowling Average: 32.32 5 wk hauls: 8 10 wk hauls: 2
Vinoo Mankad was India's first real world class all-rounder in Test cricket. At a time when India was not a superpower in Test matches, it was players like Mankad who were the pillars of the team. He played some memorable innings with the bat, which includes his record 413-run opening partnership with Pankaj Roy, against New Zealand. He also bowled some memorable spells in test cricket. He achieved some of the unique feats like scoring 100 and taking 5 wickets in an innings in the same test match. Mankad is surely of the greatest test all-rounders India has ever produced.
#2. Ravichandran Ashwin (right-handed batsman and right-arm off-spinner)
Matches: 70 Runs: 2385 Batting Average: 28.73 Hundreds:4 Highest Score: 124 Wickets: 362 Bowling Average: 25.36 5 wk hauls: 27 10 wk hauls: 7
Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the pillars of the present Indian Test squad. He has been a prolific wicket-taker and India's biggest match-winner with the ball in the last decade of Test cricket.
Ashwin started off his career as an unorthodox off spinner who could also bat a bit. From there, he developed himself both with the ball and the bat, and became a genuine all-rounder. He is at present one of the best all-rounders in world cricket.
#1. Kapil Dev (right-handed batsman and right-arm fast medium bowler)
Matches: 131; Runs: 5248 Batting Average: 31.05; Hundreds: 8 Highest Score: 163
Wickets: 434; Bowling Average: 29.64; 5 wk hauls: 23; 10 wk hauls: 2
Kapil Dev is undoubtedly India's greatest all-rounder of all time. He is one of the greatest match-winners that India has ever produced. Kapil could have easily walked into playing XI only as a bowler or as a batsman.
With the ball, Kapil showed the world that an Indian pacer can also win them Test matches. With the bat, he was one of the greatest lower middle-order batsmen of all time. He scored more than 5000 runs and played many match-winning knocks with the bat. He ended his career as the highest wicket-taker in Test matches, with 434 scalps to his name.
Kapil Dev is considered to be one of the best all-rounders in the history of test cricket.