Readers would like to know whether I rate the present Indian team the best ever. I don’t and mainly because of the absence of a genuine all-rounder. Both the skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and the coach, Gary Kirsten, are aware of this shortcoming, especially in the Test eleven.

It is convenient to say that the skipper is one and then with Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh chipping in with valuable runs, they could fancy themselves as all-rounders too. But that is not what we are looking for. There was a spell in the late 80s and early 90s that India had three all-rounders in Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri and Manoj Prabhakar.  Kapil was world class and Ravi nearly so. The case of Manoj needs careful study. His only Test century came in the role of opening batsman and that too against a formidable pace attack comprising Courtney Walsh and Kenneth Benjamin. Manoj’s innings stood out for his courage and skill. And he was an innovative new ball bowler.

Ravi always remarked that he never got the opportunity to open the batting at home as there were many claimants. But when it was necessary that a batsman blessed with patience and courage should open the batting overseas, Ravi found himself asked to do the job. And he quite enjoyed it because it showed up the pretenders in the squad.

One might well ask if all-rounders make such a difference. The fact is, they do and when these three played for the country, India should have won more Tests and ODIs. It did not happen, which was unfortunate. Take a batting line up of the period being referred to and with Syed Kirmani batting at number eight or nine there was tremendous depth. For that matter, Kiri was an all-rounder too!

India’s only triumph in the World Cup and then in the Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket between 1983 and 1985, came about because of the all-round depth in the teams that played. It might be interesting to ask Dhoni what he thinks on the subject. If everything said about him is true, superb captain, wonderful motivator and cent per cent team-man, then he would admit that players like Kapil and Ravi would have made a difference to the present outfit.

The message is loud and clear and it is to find one or two as soon as possible. After all, with so much emphasis given to junior cricket at the National Cricket Academy, surely someone like Dav Whatmore should be able to come up with a couple of names. The present team might win Tests and ODIs more frequently but for a team is to be judged by a single yardstick then it’s balance. This one lacks it.