Kris Srikkanth has dismissed Shivam Dube and Harshit Rana as all-rounders, calling Hardik Pandya the only genuine all-rounder in Indian cricket and labeling Nitish Kumar Reddy a “half all-rounder” ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup.
The former India captain and chief selector made the statement on Star Sports on July 25, 2026, at a time when India is actively searching for all-rounder options with Pandya sidelined due to injury.
“Players like Dube and Harshit Rana can’t be called all-rounders. Then I can call myself a great all-rounder if these two are called that. Hardik Pandya is the only genuine all-rounder. Nitish Kumar Reddy is a half all-rounder, who can bat at No.7 and bowl a few overs.”
Kris Srikkanth, Star Sports, July 25, 2026
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Srikkanth’s reference to himself is pointed. He was a pure batsman throughout his career. If Dube and Rana qualify as all-rounders, he argues, the bar has dropped so low that even an opening batsman from the 1983 World Cup winning squad could claim the tag.
The timing of the statement matters. The BCCI confirmed on the same day that Pandya’s recovery at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru “had a few hiccups.” The 32-year-old has been rehabilitating since June 2 after a quadriceps strain and back spasm sustained during IPL 2026. He is now bowling 12 overs a day, including spells of five to six overs, and batting against a plastic ball on a tiled surface to replicate South African conditions ahead of the World Cup. But he remains unavailable, and no confirmed return date has been announced.
With Pandya out, Dube served as India’s primary pace bowling all-rounder in the three-match ODI series against England. He picked up two wickets across two matches and was dismissed for a duck in his only batting opportunity. Harshit Rana, who was ruled out of the 2026 T20 World Cup with a knee injury, has played 14 ODIs, scoring 124 runs at an average of 24.80 and taking 26 wickets at 27.40. Nitish Kumar Reddy has played four ODIs, scoring 100 runs at 33 but is yet to take a single ODI wicket.
What the Numbers Reveal About India’s All-Rounder Options
The stats tell the story Srikkanth is making. Dube has bowled just 17.5 overs across his four ODI appearances, conceding 106 runs for one wicket at an economy of 5.94. That is not the workload of a player who can be trusted to bowl eight to ten overs in a 50-over match. His T20I bowling record of 18 wickets comes at an economy of 9.09, which points to a part-time option at best.
Harshit Rana’s numbers are stronger with the ball. His 26 ODI wickets at 27.40 and an economy of 6.20 confirm he is a genuine fast bowler. But his batting average of 24.80 with a single fifty in 14 matches does not make him a batting all-rounder. He can hit, but strike rotation and building an innings under pressure are different skills entirely.
Nitish Kumar Reddy’s Test century at the MCG in December 2024 raised expectations. But zero ODI wickets in four matches tells a clear story about his bowling at this level. His T20I bowling figures of two wickets in three matches at an economy that is yet to settle suggest he remains a batting option who can send down a few overs when the team needs to fill gaps.
Pandya’s numbers sit in a different category altogether. Before his injury, he was bowling at 140-plus kph with the ability to complete a full 10-over quota in ODIs. His ODI bowling average and the ability to pick up wickets in the middle overs gave captains a sixth bowling option they could rely on, not just use as a stopgap. With the bat, Pandya has consistently delivered in the middle overs with a strike rate and match awareness that allowed captains to trust him in pressure situations the way Yuvraj Singh was once trusted in that role.
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The difference between a genuine all-rounder and a bits-and-pieces cricketer becomes obvious in one specific situation: the 25th to 40th over of an ODI innings when the captain turns to his fifth or sixth bowler.
A genuine all-rounder can bowl through that phase. He can take the ball when the set batsmen are looking to accelerate, bowl his full quota, and give the captain the freedom to rest the main seamers for the death overs. Pandya does that. He bowls at pace, moves the ball, and can be relied upon for a full 10-over spell without the captain worrying about leaking runs.
Dube cannot be expected to do that. His bowling is part-time by any professional standard. No captain at international level can hand him the ball in the 30th over of a tight ODI and expect him to control the game. His batting has also shown limitations. He struggles when the situation demands accumulation rather than hitting. An all-rounder needs both gears.
Rana is the opposite problem. He can bowl, and bowl well. But his batting is one-dimensional. Range hitting is useful, but a genuine all-rounder needs to rotate strike, build partnerships, and adapt to match situations. Walking in at No.7 or No.8 and swinging is not the same as walking in at No.6 with 15 overs left and 180 needed, and being trusted to get the team there.
Nitish Kumar Reddy showed what he can do with the bat at the MCG. But his bowling at international level has not reached the point where a captain can rely on him for overs. A half all-rounder, as Srikkanth calls him, is someone who contributes in one department fully and the other only partially. That description fits Nitish accurately at this stage of his career.
The comparison to Yuvraj Singh is relevant. Yuvraj was trusted in the middle overs because he could bat, bowl left-arm spin as a genuine option, and field at the highest level. When India had Yuvraj at No.5 or No.6, the captain had a sixth bowler he could count on. That is the standard a genuine all-rounder sets. Pandya meets it. The others, at this point, do not.
This is not a new position from Srikkanth. During the India vs South Africa Test series in 2025, he questioned Nitish Kumar Reddy’s selection as an all-rounder, asking whether anyone could watch his bowling and genuinely call him one. During the New Zealand ODI series in early 2026, he repeated the same point, saying he did not care what Gambhir thought on the matter. In July 2026, he went further, alleging favouritism in India’s selection and naming experienced players like Krunal Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as more deserving options than Dube.
The pattern is consistent. Srikkanth has not softened his stance across six months and multiple series. Each time the team management has persisted with Dube, Rana, or Nitish as all-rounder options, he has pushed back with the same argument: Pandya is the standard, and nobody else meets it.
With Pandya’s recovery now back on track but no return date confirmed, India faces a clear problem heading into the 2027 World Cup cycle. The team needs a genuine all-rounder who can bowl a full quota and bat in the middle order. Until one emerges, or until Pandya returns fully fit, the debate Srikkanth has been driving for months will not go away.
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