IND vs SA: Aakash Chopra Criticises Obsession With All-Rounder

Former Indian opener and KKR batter Aakash Chopra urged the Indian team management to keep aside their obsession with all-rounders if they want to build a strong Test team. He felt that India did not learn their lessons from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under, where the same policy had backfired.

For the record, South Africa trounced and thrashed India 2-0 in the two-match series which concluded on Wednesday, November 26. After registering a 30-run win in Kolkata, the Proteas thumped the hosts by 408 runs in Guwahati as India succumbed to their biggest defeat by margin of runs in Test cricket.

Aakash Chopra’s thoughts on India’s obsession with all-rounders. 

Speaking on his own You Tube channel, Aakash Chopra felt that the Indian side once again paid the price for overemphasising the role of all-rounders in their playing XI.

Aakash Chopra commented: “If you consistently try to pick bowlers who bat and batters who bowl and want depth in both batting and bowling, unfortunately Test Cricket doesn’t allow that. In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, we played bowlers who could also bat. But, we forgot that we have to pick 20 wickets, which we couldn’t do. We lost the series there.” 

Aakash Chopra further added: “India are blessed as, in Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja, they have two phenomenal all-rounders. But if you want to improve on it and decide to play Axar Patel and Nitish Reddy as well, then it is not going to work out. This obsession with all-rounders needs to be kept aside, for Test cricket at least.” 

For the record, India played three spin bowling all-rounders in Sundar, Jadeja and Axar in the first Test in Kolkata. For the second Test in Guwahati, Reddy replaced Axar.

Aakash Chopra shares his views on India’s playing XI for 2nd Test match. 

Sharing his thoughts on India’s playing XI for the second Test, Aakash Chopra said that the hosts got it right with the bowling, but need to push for specialists in the batting department.

Aakash Chopra elaborated: “Looking at the team for the second Test, you have three proper batters at the top and three proper bowlers at the bottom. In between, all of them are all-rounders. Both Dhruv Jurel and Rishabh Pant are keeper-batters. Then you have Sundar, Reddy and Jadeja. I am not raising fingers at the bowling because this is the best that India has. But, in batting, we need specialists if you want to create a team.” 

For the record, Washington Sundar was India’s top run-getter in the series against South Africa, with 124 runs in four innings at an average of 31. Ravindra Jadeja with 105 runs was the only other Indian batter to score 100-plus runs in the series.

Indian cricket is at a trying stage and at cross roads. The Test Cricket is at an all time low and it will require a great effort to pull it out of trouble. Indian team management’s obsession with all-rounders has hurt the team and not playing specialist batters as well. The other factor is too much chopping and changing and shuffling of the batting order. There is lack of clarity in roles for the players as positions are being changed like hot chocolates.

No player is set at a role and there is sense of insecurity in the camp as everyone is playing for themselves and not for the team. This is a dangerous situation and as quickly India can come out of it, the better it is for them. Else, we will continue to see these results from India especially in red ball cricket.

The focus will shift to white ball cricket for the next 6-7 months, but this Test performance should not fall away by the wayside and action needs to be taken via post-mortem reviews and all. For now, India are gearing up for the first of three ODIs in Ranchi on Sunday November 30th, 2025.

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