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Shardul Thakur
Former India selector Sarandeep Singh feels that the Indian team management should groom Shardul Thakur for the all-rounder's role. Sarandeep Singh opined that India could not rely exclusively on Hardik Pandya for the position. Team India's run in the ICC World Test Championship ended on an unfortunate note as the team lost to New Zealand in the mega event. India emerged as one of the strongest teams on the league stage. The Men in Blue also topped the points table with the most points in the tournament.
Hardik Pandya hasn't featured in Test cricket since 2018
However, the Indian cricket team stumbled in the summit clash and lost the game. India had three frontline seamers and two spin-bowling all-rounders in their playing XI. On the contrary, New Zealand went with four frontline pacers and a pace-bowling all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme in the playing XI.
New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson made all the difference in the ICC WTC final.
The young bowler picked 7 wickets and also scored 21 runs. Team India lacked the services of a pace-bowling all-rounder in the WTC final. It looks like team India does not have a frontline pace-bowling all-rounder in their line-up. Even though Shardul Thakur can bat well, he has only featured in two Test matches so far. Talking about Hardik Pandya, he wasn't selected in the Test squad. Sarandeep Singh was part of the selection committee when Hardik Pandya made his Test debut. The former opined that India would have to groom Shardul as Pandya cannot rely anymore on them. Shardul Thakur has scored 1301 runs in first-class cricket.
Talking of Vijay Shankar, the all-rounder has been part of the Test squad but is yet to make his international debut. The 30-year-old has also been away from the national set-up since 2019. Shivam Dube was part of the limited-overs team in Hardik Pandya's absence was also dropped from the team soon after he made his comeback. Hardik Pandya still remains to be a blue-chip all-rounder in white-ball format. The 25-year-old has added balance to the team with his brilliant batting down the order and terrific bowling. However, Team India will definitely need a pace-bowling all-rounder in Test cricket.