Batters who can bowl have been on India's T20I wishlist for a long time.
While Hardik Pandya continues to be the only man in India who can do Hardik Pandya things, a new crop of batters who can bowl is emerging. In the fifth T20I against Zimbabwe in Harare, India's top eight contained four players who could perform dual roles. Among the lot, Shivam Dube came away with the Player-of-the-Match award and Washington Sundar with the Player-of-the-Series award.
With Ravindra Jadeja retiring from T20Is, Washington has now staked his claim for a full-time role in India's side in the format. Dube, who bowled just one over each in IPL 2024 and the T20 World Cup that followed in the USA and the Caribbean, ended up bowling eight overs across three T20Is in Zimbabwe, and completed his full allotment of overs on Sunday.
Dube claimed the wickets of Dion Myers and Johnathan Campbell to kill of Zimbabwe's chase of 168. He kept digging the ball into a used Harare surface, and kept taking pace off to deny batters easy access to the boundaries. This after he had crashed 26 off 12 balls to help drag India towards 167.
"It's always a special thing for me as an allrounder to contribute in both the departments - bat and ball," Dube said after the game. "So, it felt really good today to take some wickets."
India's team management might have been even more pleased with Abhishek Sharma's spell: 3-0-20-1. With the series already in the bag and with Abhishek extracting turn, bounce and grip, India could afford to give him an extended spell ahead of Washington or Tushar Deshpande. Abhishek had returned identical figures of 3-0-20-1 in the fourth T20I after taking some tap in the first three games. In that fourth T20I, he could have got another wicket had Ruturaj Gaikwad not dropped a fairly straightforward catch in the infield.
Prior to his first international series, Abhishek had bowled both in the powerplay and middle overs in IPL 2024. In the second qualifier against Rajasthan Royals on a pitch in Chennai that turned appreciably more in the second innings, Abhishek picked up the wickets of Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer while giving up just 24 runs in his four overs.
Abhishek then fine-tuned his bowling in the Sher-e-Punjab T20 league, where he was among the top ten wicket-takers. "A special mention to the coaches and Shubman [Gill] who actually believed [in me] after the first two matches [in Zimbabwe] because I didn't bowl that much and I didn't bowl well also," Abhishek said after India won the series 4-1. "So, I thought that giving me the chance with the ball again... I'm always very grateful for that. I've been working really hard on my bowling. I knew if I'm going to get my [India] cap, I have to bowl for my team, so I was working on that."
Once India's seniors return to the T20I team, there might not be room for Abhishek in the XI, but it's always a healthy sign to see batters work actively on their secondary skill.
Dube is also learning on the job as a T20 bowler and has added the back-of-the-hand slower variation to his standard offcutter. As for Washington, he is predominantly a bowler in white-ball cricket, but has been training behind the scenes to pack more power into his batting. At one point, he even had a stint with Apurva Desai, the former Gujarat batter who has also worked with Dinesh Karthik in the past.
T20 cricket moves at a breathless pace. It leaves players behind unless they upgrade themselves. To keep up with that pace, New Zealand's Glenn Phillips learnt offspin on the job to add to his power-hitting. England's Liam Livingstone dipped into all-sorts spin to enhance his value as an allrounder. Namibia's Gerhard Erasmus, who started as a batter, can now turn the ball both ways. His mystery spin helped him break into the ILT20 as an allrounder.
It's now refreshing to see India select and nurture such multi-dimensional players in T20 cricket. Not too long ago, India had five batters, none of whom could bowl, an allrounder, a wicketkeeper, and four specialist bowlers. And when Hardik was unavailable, they were left scrambling for balance. They turned a corner while winning the T20 World Cup, picking a side with three allrounders in Hardik, Jadeja and Axar Patel, apart from Dube who wasn't called on that much with the ball.
Despite the absence of Hardik, Axar and Nitish Kumar Reddy, the IPL's newest all-round hero, in Zimbabwe, India coped excellently and provided a glimpse into a bright future.