Allround challenge: The toughest job in present day world cricket

If Hardik Pandya doesn't play Test cricket again, he won't stop regaling his son with stories of the Trent Bridge Test of 2018 when his 25-year-old self, delivered a true-blue all-round performance (5/28 and 52`) in a winning cause. That's when so many in Indian cricket had prophesied more in hope than belief that Hardik would be the next Kapil Dev.

- Rasesh Mandani

A fallacy that it was, Pandya played only one more Test after that to take his career tally to 11. Kapil played 131 Tests at a stretch; missing only one, and not for fitness reasons.

In as much as it speaks of Kapil's remarkable fitness values, the workload of the present-day player is fast making the gig undoable; certainly, across formats, where being an all-rounder means double the work not just on match-day but also in training.

It came as no surprise when India couldn't find a replacement close enough to Pandya's calibre (1,789 runs, Avg 34.01 and 84 wkts, Avg 35.23 in ODIs) in the World Cup, after his ankle injury did not heal in time. They chose to boost their fast bowling' reserves.

Indian cricket has also not shown any inclination to try and create back-ups for Pandya. If T20 is the currency in circulation, the introduction of Impact player rule in the last IPL and its continuation in the recently concluded Mushtaq Ali T20s is doing little to help build an all-rounders pool.