Former Indian batter Yograj Singh recently opened up about India leveling the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025. He believes India could have won the series 5-0 if Arshdeep Singh had been part of the playing XI.
Yograj felt that leaving out Arshdeep and the lower order’s inability to bat longer spells were key reasons India lost two matches in the series.
"Even in England, we could have won 5-0 if Arshdeep was there in the squad. We could have won the series 3-2, had we not lost at Lord's by 21 runs, because our tailenders were pushing it hard. They could not win it, they could not achieve it, because we never gave them a chance with the bat," Yograj said in an interview.
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He also stressed the importance of having more all-rounders who can bat down the order, drawing a comparison to Sourav Ganguly’s era while criticizing the post-2011 Test team under MS Dhoni for lacking in that area.
"If we can make all-rounders (out of bowlers), then our team can once again be like a Sourav Ganguly team. What Sourav did when he was captain—he made a No.7-ranked team the No.1 team in just about five years. Then we destroyed the team after 2011. In that team, you had Yuvi, Viru, Sachin, and Sourav, who could bowl. These guys picked up 100-100 wickets. We should tell our batsmen, 'Tum log ball daalo yaar (You guys also bowl).' Bowl to the tailenders for an hour," he said.
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Yograj also believes bowlers like Bumrah have the potential to contribute with the bat — just like Kapil Dev once did — but only if they’re given proper batting opportunities and guidance.
"The problem with the Indian squad, at the moment, is that we are not looking to make bowlers into all-rounders. Kapil Dev was never given batting in the nets. I was yelling at the top of my voice, 'Kapil ko batting karao (Make Kapil bat)'. At that time, he used to come in at No.11 and score 70–80 runs, so no one was looking ahead.
Nowadays, Bumrah and all these bowlers — what you call tailenders — I don't. You are not looking ahead that they can be groomed into very, very good all-rounders. If you work with them, make them bat in the nets for 1–2 hours daily after the session, I think that could be the best thing that could happen. he oncluded
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