Without Pandya, the balance of the Indian team goes awry. ©BCCI

If you had watched India's T20I game against Sri Lanka, you would have noticed a familiar issue popping its head up. It is an uncomfortable issue, it has been asking questions for a long time but luckily has been suppressed for a while because of the brilliance of a few players. But you take those players away and the issue rears up again.

India has been producing some outstanding batsmen and bowlers recently but not enough batsmen who can bowl or bowlers who can bat. You can see that reflected in the IPL Auction too where the search for all-rounders travelled beyond the pool of Indian players. And till such time, as India finds a few such cricketers, the team will depend on the brilliance of the specialists.

For the Nidahas Trophy, India rested the core of its bowling. Also rested was the one player who could bat and bowl. Hardik Pandya is young but he is already one of his kind in Indian cricket and hence the huge investment in him. Without him the balance went awry.

In an ideal T20 team, you need 8 batsmen, 6 bowlers and a wicket keeper. That is four more than the players you are allowed and therefore four players must play double roles in the side. It is mandatory that the wicket keeper bats in the top-six so that is one out of the way. Of the rest, No. 7 and 8 are your two-in-one players, maybe more bowlers than batsmen given how few deliveries a No. 7 actually plays. But No. 7 has to be a four-overs bowler who can bat and No. 8 is largely a bowler who can chip in. Numbers 9, 10 and 11 are there to bowl their overs and if they can bat, so be it.

That leaves one more batsmen to help out with the ball and that is why we often talk of the top six providing four overs and a keeper. To be honest, four overs is a luxury but he should be someone you can call upon everyday, he is your insurance against one of the lead four having a bad day. Inevitably, in a T20 game, one bowler will suffer and that is why the top order batsman who can bowl is invaluable.

Now look at India's composition, whether in Sri Lanka or in South Africa. The moment Pandya was given the responsibility of becoming a full quota bowler in South Africa, he became a better bowler and in doing so, plugged a worrisome hole. India only had Suresh Raina to fall back upon and while he is a whole-hearted bowler, I am not sure he is your insurance most days. India got by because the four lead bowlers were in good form and Pandya bowled his quota. It also helps that Bhuvneshwar Kumar can now bat at No. 8 though, again, he seems the only bowler who can.

Now look what happens in Sri Lanka. No Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah but also no Pandya. India would have had to play six batsmen and five bowlers and hope one of those five could contribute with the bat. Not being sure of that, India went batting heavy while the trend increasingly, in such situations, is to err on the side of extra bowling and back your six batsmen over 20 overs. So Vijay Shankar, really a batting all-rounder, was picked and India, effectively, went into the game with, at the very best, 20 overs available to the captain. There was nowhere to go if one of the bowlers had a bad day. When Thakur conceded 27 up front, India's bowling was exposed, the better bowlers had to come in earlier and bowl out and Vijay Shankar had to bowl over number 17, far too late in a run-chase for his skills.

In course of time, Pandya will have to bat in the top-six for his batting will get wasted otherwise. It will make for the perfect balance with a keeper and four overs in the top-six. But, India will need to find someone who bowls and bats at No. 7. Axar Patel could have been that person but his game hasn't grown as much as we thought it would. With Raina making the side anyway, India ideally need another seamer. Currently that player doesn't exist in India (now you see how badly India wanted Stuart Binny to succeed) and so I won't be surprised if India feel the need to go back to Ravindra Jadeja unless Washington Sundar can become a batsman capable of batting at that number in limited-overs cricket. Or indeed, if Deepak Hooda works on his bowling a bit more.

So, you see, with Hardik Pandya, India's balance is good but just about sustains itself. Without him, it goes all over the place.

© Cricbuzz