Top 10 All Rounders in Indian Cricket History

Indian Cricket has produced many great all-rounders, from Kapil Dev to Ravichandran Ashwin. To be precise, Indian cricket has been blessed with many spin-bowling all-rounders, though it has lacked pace-bowling all-rounders.

In this article, we will talk about the Ten Best all-rounders in Indian Cricket history.

#10 Ajit Agarkar

Ajit took 288 wickets for India in ODIs from 188 innings, ranking third in the list of most wickets for India in ODIs. In Test cricket, he took 58 wickets. 

The bowling all-rounder also has 1855 runs for India across the ODIs and Tests. Interestingly, he scored a century at Lords against England in the year 2002.

#9 Lala Amarnath

Lala Amarnath was a quality all-rounder and the first centurion for India in Test cricket. He had an average of 24 with the bat and 33 with the ball in the 24 Test matches he played for India. 

The pace bowling all-rounder scored his first Test hundred in his first match, which came against England in 1933. He also took a wicket haul in English conditions. Overall, Lala Amarnath took 45 wickets in his Test career.

#8 Manoj Prabhakar

Though being an all-rounder, Manoj Prabhakar was widely known for his bowling. He took 157 wickets for India in ODIs and was four short of 100 Test wickets. Manoj represented India in 169 matches across the Tests and ODIs and scored over 3K runs.

Manoj holds the record of scoring 1K ODI runs and taking over 100 wickets; he has two five-wicket hauls to his name. Prabhakar was a handy lower-order batter; He scored 20 fifties and three centuries for the Indian team.

#7 Mohinder Amarnath

Mohinder Amarnath, Son of Lala Amarnath, was a successful all-rounder. He played a significant role in India’s first World Cup trophy win in 1983 under Kapil Dev. Mohinder scored 13 fifties and 2 Centuries for India in ODIs, and his batting average was around 30; his total runs are 1924 from 75 innings. The medium pacer also took 46 wickets in his ODI career, averaging 42.

The right-handed batter was more successful in Test cricket. He averaged 42 with the bat and scored 11 centuries, 24 fifties, and a total of 4378 runs in 69 matches. Amarnath didn’t succeed with the ball in Test cricket, picking only 32 wickets at an average of 55.

#6 Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri, the left-arm spin bowling all-rounder, played 80 Test matches and 150 ODIs for India, Scored more than 6K runs, and took more than 280 wickets across the two formats, Tests and ODIs

Ravi was a dependable batter for his team; he averaged 36 with the bat in Test cricket, scoring 11 tons and 12 fifties from 121 innings. Shastri picked 151 wickets for India in the Test with the ball, scoring 1K Test runs and 100 Test wickets.

In the one-day format, Shastri was part of the Indian team that won the World Cup in England in 1983, and he played an important role for his team there. Overall, in ODIs, he scored 3108 runs, four centuries, and 18 fifties, averaged 29 with the bat, and took 129 wickets with the ball at an average of 36.   

#5 Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan, who now appears in the commentary panel, was once a regular member of the Indian team as an all-rounder. The left-armed double-duty Player scored 2821 runs for India across the formats and took more than 300 wickets.

Irfan was crucial in India’s T20 World Cup triumph in 2007. The left-arm pacer won the Player of the Match award for India in the Final of the T20 WC 2007. He picked up three wickets against Pakistan while defending 157 runs. Pathan sent Pakistan on the back foot by picking the wickets of their captain, Shoaib Malik, Yasir Arafat, and Shahid Afridi, who later won the Player of the Tournament award.

#4 Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya started his career as a hard-hitting all-rounder and is now one of India’s most successful all-rounders in white-ball cricket. Although he has played only 11 Tests, scoring over 500 runs and picking up more than 15 wickets, he still needs to prolong his Test career due to injuries. Hardik Pandya played his last test match in England in 2018.

The pace-bowling all-rounder is a regular feature in India’s white-ball teams and is now part of the leadership group. Pandya has scored over 1K runs in both ODIs and T20Is and with the ball in both formats, he has taken more than 75 wickets.

#3 Kapil Dev

Kapil, the first Indian captain to win an ICC Cricket World Cup, was a bowling all-rounder who also won many matches for India with his bat. One of India’s most famous wins came with Kapil’s bat’s help against Zimbabwe in the 1983 CWC. Kapil Dev smashed 175 runs off 138 balls, a knock that came under immense pressure and included 16 fours and six sixes.

Kapil took 434 wickets in Test cricket from 227 innings. He is the third-highest wicket-taker for India in Test cricket history. In ODIs, too, Dev was successful with the ball 253 wickets from 221 innings at an average of 27.

With the bat, the right-handed attacking batter in Test cricket has more than 5K runs to his name with eight centuries and 27 half-centuries, and around 4K runs in the One-day Internationals.  

#2 Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin is one of the biggest match-winners in Indian cricket’s history. He is the second-highest wicket-taker for India in Tests, with over 500 wickets to his name. With his off-spin, he has also taken over 150 wickets in ODIs and more than 70 wickets in T20Is.

With the bat, he has scored more than 3K runs for India in Tests and has bailed out the team many times, scoring 5 centuries and 14 fifties. Ashwin has many records to his name, but the record of scoring a century in a Test and taking five wickets in the same proves how good he has been as an all-rounder in red-ball cricket.

#1 Ravindra Jadeja

Jadeja is the most valuable Player of the Indian Test team in the 21st century. The left-handed batter has worked very hard on his batting. He has averaged 50 above in Tests since 2018 and has scored four centuries since then. In the one-day format, too, Jadeja has found success with the bat, scoring more than 2500 runs at an average of 32.

With the ball, Jadeja has taken 567 wickets across the three formats with an average of 29, and he has 15 five-wicket hauls to his name.

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