‘They always try and prepare for a big tournament’ – Ambati Rayudu explains India’s shift toward all-rounders in bilateral series

Gautam Gambhir (Source: gautamgambhir55/IG)

Former Indian cricketer Ambati Rayudu shared his insights on head coach Gautam Gambhir’s strategy of prioritising all-rounders over specialist role players. His comments follow India’s recent shock 2-0 defeat in the T20I series against Ireland, marking their first-ever series loss to the Irish side.

Rayudu explained that the Indian team always builds toward major tournaments by using bilateral series to test how different combinations work. He noted that fielding multiple all-rounders gives the team management the flexibility to see how a fluid lineup functions. While he clarified that this approach is not a random experiment, he expressed interest in seeing how this strategic shift ultimately pans out for the team.

“I think it should definitely depend on the conditions at hand. And, you know, generally how the Indian team works is, they always try and prepare for a big tournament that comes up. So, that will be the World Cup that is going to come in a few years. So, they are going to prepare for it. So, when it comes to bilaterals, you know, they just give a leeway of trying, you know, to see how things go about when you play two all-rounders or three all-rounders when you play specialized players,” Rayudu responded to CricTracker’s query during an interaction arranged by Sony Sports Network.

“So, they get a good reading of what can be good or what can’t be good. So, these are the matches, these are the times where, you know, a lot of management, I wouldn’t say experiment, but they would like to read into what happens when we go this route. And that is exactly what is happening at the moment with the India’s T20 side,” he added.

The newly revamped Indian squad, captained by Shreyas Iyer, included Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. However, his inclusion sparked intense debate when he was left out of the playing XI for the entire T20I series. India will now turn their focus in the five-match T20I series against England.