Advantages and disadvantages of playing Stuart Binny

Stuart Binny

For once, the leading performers in domestic tournaments got a chance to represent India, courtesy, the short 3-match ODI series against Bangladesh. Yes, I agree that it not the same without your top players and it lacks some entertainment quotient. Sadly, despite Cricket being the blood and skin of every youth (okay, most of the youth) in India, it is a worrying fact that no broadcaster was ready to telecast this low profile series until the last moment when Star came in. The FIFA World Cup is catching more eyeballs than ever, but hardly able to find quality footballers in our land.

While these kind of less important series give the next generation of players and fringe cricketers a chance to redeem themselves, it might also ignite some devaluating the Indian cap debates. However, one cannot simply declare this as poor quality cricket as India is currently enjoying vast cricketing resources. Some of the players selected for this tour, with their capabilities, deserve to be called as Indian players rather playing their entire careers to become domestic legends.

Coming to the topic, in case of Stuart Binny, India took a gamble by including him in the Test squad for England. The 30-year old Karnataka all-rounder was part of their treble winning team. That alone shouldn’t be a criteria for justifying his selection. All-rounders if they lack that extra bit of skill, will always be just mere player making the count not as a performer. You simply cannot have a player in your side if he is neither capable of bowling with the new ball nor can bat in the upper middle order – if the situation demands. It can often be related to other so called all-rounders around the world. Classical example – Darren Sammy.

My point is not against all rounders. Every team will want that extra bowler and a good lower order batsmen to bail them out of trouble in crucial moments of the game, particluarly in a format like Test cricket. But again, he should be a specialist in atleast any one form of the game – be it batting or bowling. In another words, a batting all-rounder or a bowling all-rounder with their abilities and roles classified according to that. Yes, it may backfire too, but for a captain, it makes sense to have 100% trust for a player in at-least one of the departments, rather than protecting him from tough match situations throughout the process of the game in order to get the best of him.

Binny, from what I have seen him will come under the category of a genuine all-rounder. Although every all-rounder will want them to be designated by this title, it is like a two-faced knife. On a practical note, no cricketer can survive in the game for more than 10 years, if he bats at the top and bowls medium pace every match. The body will get weared down and form will soon vanish if you are a human – Jacques Kallis is from Mars, so lets leave the odd one out. Can you remember any other all-rounder who got through 10 or more years of international cricket keeping intact of his reputation he owned at the start of his career.

Every one who appreciated you in your prime will point fingers at your lack of specialization in both the roles. Spin bowling all-rounders are existing because they dont really have to go under the all the tough stresses of a fast bowler.

Hence, it is mandatory to have be world-class in either batting or bowling. Binny does have good counter-attacking skills with the ball and bowls medium pace. He will quickly have to master any one of his qualities to be successful for a prolonged period of time or even for a year or so. He doesn’t really have a great domestic record either, so he should be having a thing or two to prove his critics, if he in case steps out in England with his whites on.

But on a positive note, if a genuine all-rounder can find an equal balance between bat and ball, they can easily take the game away from you single-handedly. With stiff competition for places in the side, Binny has nothing to lose, thereby, it will not be a bad move to go and try out both his skills dedicatedly. If he is able to replicate half of what Kallis did for South Africa, India will be a super-power in cricket for the next 3 years and will have a great chance of defending its World Cup down under.

Good luck Binny, India do lack a genuine medium pace bowling all-rounder.