The all-round conundrum

Rohit Mahajan

The vote for Stuart Binny, to be part of the World Cup team, was not really a vote for him. It was a vote against the terrible scarcity of allrounders in Indian cricket. India needed a pace bowling allrounder — only two such cricketers are notable in the Indian domestic circuit. Binny’s performance, especially in the IPL, got him into the Indian team, ahead of Rishi Dhawan of Himachal Pradesh.

Binny’s inclusion in the Indian 15 for the World Cup was met with surprise and even howls of protest. Ironically, the surprise was more about the exclusion of Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag from the 15, than the inclusion of Binny in it.

Binny, of course, got into the Indian team on the pace-bowling allrounder’s ticket. To be bluntly honestly, it must be said that Binny’s ability as either batsman or bowler is not impressive enough for him to earn him a place in the Indian XI. He’s often been dismissed as just another IPL allrounder, who can smash a 100 or take four wickets in that T20 tournament. Yet, Binny has displayed some character in the nine One-day International and three Test matches he’s played for India. His top Test score is 78, with which he helped India secure a draw against England in Nottingham last year. His top ODI score is 44 at No. 7, against England on January 20, after coming in at 67/5. In nine ODIs, he’s taken three-plus wickets two times, once against England (3/33 on January 30), and once against Bangladesh (6/4 in Dhaka).

Binny is 30, and it’s difficult to see him doing much better than this in the rest of his international cricket. But if ever there’s an event for a modest cricketer to rise to the occasion, it is the World Cup.

“That’s one area (seam allrounder) that makes me a bit nervous,” Indian coach Duncan Fletcher said a few days ago about Binny’s role. “What we need in these conditions is a good batting allrounder who bowls seam. That will add depth in our batting and give us that extra bowler... That is the real reason why we have Stuart Binny in the squad.”

Binny has been ridiculed for, well, not being a dazzling allrounder – think allrounder and we tend to think Kapil Dev, Imran Khan or Ian Botham, all geniuses. The allround ability is the province of geniuses, or should be.

Binny, though, is a non-genius allrounder. He can’t be blamed for being what he is or is not — he’s the best we’ve got in that genre, and he’s a trier. India would hope that his efforts would bear fruit Down Under.