Utility men

After the dust finally settled over the announcement of World Cup squads last month, with the Indian XV producing no surprises, a doubt still gnawed away at the Indian cricket fans' minds. What if Irfan Pathan finally fails the fitness test? For the no-nonsense Chief Selector Dilip Vengsarkar made it clear that the young allrounder was no certainty if he was not found to be fully fit.

When the 22-year-old finally got the green signal, Pathan must have been left wondering as to what all this fuss was about.

Was it, as they say, the importance of being Irfan Pathan? Partly yes, but in the overall context of things, it was the importance of being the only player in the squad who can be regarded as a genuine allrounder.

The utility of a quality allrounder — whatever be the form of the game — need not be overemphasised for the cricket fan on the street.

True, that the modern game has been devoid of larger-than-life performers like a Ian Botham or an Imran Khan or a Kapil Dev, the allrounders still continue to make a significant contribution — irrespective of the prospects of burnout that they are faced with with so much cricket now.

The eighth edition of the World Cup promises to be no different.

To fuel the cricket romantic's imagination a step further, it may be reminded that while the list of cricketing greats from the Caribbean hosts is simply endless – it produced arguably the greatest of them all in the allrounders' category.

Yes, one is talking about Sir Garfield Sobers.

It would be the job of a Steven Spielberg to take him on a time machine and find out what Sir Gary's heady mix of some explosive batting, seam bowling (to start with, the Chinaman stuff in the second spell) and superb close-in fielding would have done in a Cup game.

For now, one has to focus on the masters of the trade and the impact they are capable of creating in this World Cup.

A look at the top allrounders' list, as per the latest ICC rankings, makes one thing clear — there are allrounders, and then there are allrounders.

If you are a believer in the theory that allrounders are born, not made, your vote will go to possibly three of the top 10 — Shaun Pollock, Andrew Flintoff and Jacques Kallis.

The former South African captain, now 33 and in his last World Cup, occupies the top spot — and not for nothing.

Flintoff and Kallis are placed next to each other in third and fourth places, respectively, while Chris Gayle has quietly crept up in the second position for quite a while now.

A murderous opener on any surface, the taciturn West Indian's claim to fame in the allrounders' list has been some tight off-spin bowling — something which can be extremely handy in the forthcoming event back home.

In the statisticians' parlance, Gayle is a batting allrounder, so is the Sri Lankan veteran Sanath Jayasuriya — who is number five.

Ever since Jayasuriya ‘arrived' on the scene in the '96 World Cup, he had also worked on his left-arm spin – a quality which has played it's part as the Lankans went on to defend even moderate totals successfully in recent times.

This is where the trio of Pollock, Flintoff and Kallis stand out — with their class and giving their teams such a fine balance.

Barely three weeks away from the Cup, Pollock went on to take five for 23 against Pakistan in their final one-day International.

For the statistically minded, he has now picked up the third highest bowling points ranking of all time — only behind past greats Joel Garner and Richard Hadlee. The mild complaint against Pollock had been that he had often not done justice to his batting abilities.

Conversely, the ‘Mr Consistent' of South African cricket — Jacques Kallis has also chosen to lean more on his solidity in batting now that he is 30.

Give him the roughed up ball after Ntini, Nel and senior pro Pollock has had a blast — and Kallis would deliver the goods by holding up one end or providing a vital breakthrough.

And that brings us to ‘Freddie,' who must be happily recharging his batteries after the mentally and physically bruising three months in Australia.

The British media had been quick to raise him to the skies after the summer of 2005 and pillory him 15 months later, but fact remains that Flintoff is still the most potent allrounder in the business today. The World Cup arena had not been very kind to him, but on the threshold of 30, this is probably his best chance to rewrite the script.

Having turned the tables in the one-day series on their arch rivals (thanks largely to his compatriot in the allrounders' list, Paul Collingwood), Flintoff must be raring to go at the game's biggest stage.