Hardik Pandya stands alone as Paras Mhambrey exposes India's pace-bowling all-rounders crisis

The Indian Cricket Team currently has the only genuine pace-bowling allrounder in Hardik Pandya, and former bowling coach Paras Mhambrey is concerned about the notable gap in this area.

Reflecting on this challenge, Mhambrey has pointed out that the shortage of pace-bowling allrounders in India is an issue that needs to be addressed at the grassroots level. He also emphasized the importance of identifying and nurturing pace-bowling talents from the U-19 and domestic circuits.

Paras Mhambrey sounds the alarm on Team India's all-rounder crisis

Mhambrey pointed out that potential pace-bowling allrounders often tend to focus solely on batting to prolong their careers, which leads to a decline in their bowling skills, resulting in the shortage of pace-bowling allrounders in the country.

To address this area, the former bowling coach believes that sustained efforts must be made to bolster their confidence and skills as all-rounders from the early stages of their careers. Meanwhile, Mhambrey blamed the Impact Player Rule in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the lack of pace-bowling all-rounders for the Indian cricket team.

He felt the Impact Player rule in the IPL is one of the major hurdles in the development of all-rounders, especially pace-bowling all-rounders in India, as the much-debatable rule doesn’t allow the players to roll their hands, with the teams having the luxury to exchange a specialist batter and bowler according to their needs in both innings.

Despite this, Mhambrey feels consistent match practice to help the players trust their abilities and develop into reliable all-rounders. He mentioned that the recent reintroduction of Shivam Dube into the bowling fold is a big step in this direction.

India need to search pace-bowling all-rounders across the country: Paras Mhambrey

The former bowling coach further stressed the need to give enough bowling opportunities to such players to nurture a strong pool of pace-bowling all-rounders who can contribute significantly in both domestic and international cricket.

Paras Mhambrey was quoted as saying by Times of India: “You need to identify such players across the country. There won't be many pace-bowling allrounders. The problem is that most of them give up bowling to sustain themselves. But if you can manage to find five-six potential allrounders from U-19 and domestic cricket, you have to keep working with them. Give them confidence. The Impact Player rule in IPL doesn't help. But you have to be at it. We have got Shivam Dube back to bowling. You have to give these bowlers overs in matches so that they start backing themselves.”

Notably, Hardik Pandya is all set to receive a major setback from Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir ahead of his first-ever assignment, which is a white-ball series in Sri Lanka. Gambhir has reportedly suggested Suryakumar’s name for India’s T20I captaincy for the Sri Lanka tour.

As Rohit Sharma retired from T20I cricket after winning the T20 World Cup 2024 along with Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, the BCCI is searching for the right candidate to replace the Indian opener, and many have been backing Hardik for the job. But Gambhir is not reportedly much in Hardik’s favor.