5 things unearthed by Indian cricket since the 2015 World Cup

#2 The wait ends for a seam-bowling all-rounder

Pandya is fast becoming India's leading all-rounder

For a large part of his time as India's Test captain, MS Dhoni's biggest headache was that he could not find an extra seam bowling all-rounder who would come in when the new ball bowlers had done their bit with the ball.

The Virat Kohli-era has, however, seen a few cricketers fall into that bracket. Stuart Binny was tested initially, but once he didn't deliver the goods consistently, the team found Hardik Pandya, who in the last few years has shown himself to be capable of essaying the role very well.

After more than a year of limited-overs cricket, he was handed a Test cap against Sri Lanka a couple of months back and he did his chance for a longer rope no harm by picking up a few wickets as well as scoring his maiden Test ton.

As the challenges get tougher next year, Pandya's role will be all the more critical and the management will want him to remain injury-free during this period.