five fast bowling all-rounders India tried before Hardik Pandya

An agile and athletic guy from a small town in Gujarat became the new swagger of Indian Cricket Team. Hardik Pandya’s presence led Indian management to fill the shortage which Indian Team was having in the form of an all-rounder.

Wiry Hardik Pandya

Like several others, Hardik Pandya announced himself to the world during the Indian Premier League (IPL)
With his swashbuckling abilities, Hardik Pandya has been a capable lower-order batsman who featured in some watch winning knocks. Besides this, with the every passing day, he has been improving as a bowler as well.
Before him, India had a like of Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja and Akshar Patel as the all-rounders. However, especially at the overseas tour, India was facing the shortage of bowlers due to lack of fast bowling all-rounder.

A pace all-rounder is a must-have commodity in the overseas trips.
There have been many fast bowling all-rounders in the past which created a lot of rejoicing to Indian fans. However, they could not fulfill the expectations which team and fans were having from them.
We will look at five all-rounders India tried before Hardik Pandya.

#5 JP Yadav
Yadav played most of his cricket under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid in 2005. He broke into Indian Team following his performance in the domestic for Railways.

Yadav made his comeback in the Greg Chappell era following his disappointing performance in the debut series. He made his debut against West Indies in 2002.

Yadav was known for his consistent medium pace bowling. India carried on him for few series after his dismal performance led management to drop him. He could not make another comeback into the side and ended up playing just 12 ODIs for India.

#4 Joginder Sharma
He will stay in the memories of every Indian due to his heroics in World Cup 2007. He bowled the famous last ball over of ICC T20 World Cup which India eventually managed to win.

However, it is shocking to know that it was his final performance in the dream jersey. He made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in 2004. Soon after his debut, he was dropped, but he continued to knock the door of selectors due to his eye-catching performance in domestic.

He made 35 runs and took one wicket in his four matches career for Team India. Besides this, he played five seasons for Chennai Super Kings in IPL.

#3 Rishi Dhawan
He came into the spotlight following his performance for his state team Himachal Pradesh. After his decent figures in IPL, he got selected in India A.

While continuing his energetic performance, he made into ODI team of India against Australia in Australia.

He played only three matches in the series in which he scored 12 runs and just took one wicket. After that, he got dropped, and he did not make any comeback since then.

#2 Stuart Binny

He was probably the one with whom Indian management thought to stick with him. The son of former Indian player Roger Binny, he was given the opportunity to prove his worth in international cricket.

After some dazzling performance in IPL and domestic, Binny got a chance to appear in test cricket.

Binny has played 6 Tests and 14 ODIs so far, and with age not on his side, he could never cement his place.

#1 Irfan Pathan

This man earned a lot of praise due to his swing bowling. Due to some his unbelievable performance, Pathan won the limelight in a jiffy.

Considered at next “Kapil Dev,” he got promoted to number 3 in many matches. For a couple of seasons, Irfan Pathan played well and tormented many batting sides with his unbelievable performance.

However, with the passage of time, he lost all his touch which led him to get dropped from the team. He made many comebacks since then. However, he could never cement his place.