Who is India's best spin-bowling all-rounder in T20Is?

India have an excellent pool of spin-bowling all-rounders at the moment. Apart from Ravindra Jadeja, who is the first-choice player across all formats at present, India have options like Krunal Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, and even Krishnappa Gowtham, who are proven assets in the limited-overs formats.

Even though India prefer Jadeja in this role ahead of others, irrespective of formats, there is a large faction of people who believe that he is not suitable for T20I in particular. They are not completely wrong, as Jadeja averages in the high 30s with the ball and has a strike-rate of just 122.87 with the bat in his entire T20 career. These numbers aren't quite good enough for someone who is expected to bowl his entire quota of four overs along with scoring quick runs with the bat in the lower order.

Not only that, but three of the four aforementioned options -- Krunal, Patel and Sundar -- also have better batting and bowling returns than Jadeja. The best option among them is probably Krunal Pandya, who has a much higher batting strike-rate of 138.50 compared to Jadeja's corresponding figure of 122.87. Moreover, he takes a far lesser number of deliveries to score a boundary as well. Statistics suggest that Krunal is a better bowler too as he has marginally better bowling numbers than Jadeja.

Their international numbers might suggest otherwise, though. Krunal has a dismal bowling average of 38.42 in T20Is as compared to that of Jadeja's 29.53. However, the Baroda all-rounder had a tough time bowling on Australian wickets and that is the reason behind his poor bowling average. That is not a major concern as players are supposed to learn from their tough experiences. Moreover, his batting numbers in international T20s are far better than that of Jadeja which makes him an outright winner once again.

Table: Comparison of the performances of Jadeja, Krunal, Axar and Sundar in T20Is for India

Jadeja mainly has a bowling role for India in this format as they have a very strong top and middle-order. Krunal's international T20 numbers might not make him look like a reliable candidate for that role but Sundar and Patel are still there with much better bowling returns than the 30-year-old.

So, it is quite baffling to see India's affinity towards Jadeja in this format even though there are three options available who could make the side stronger.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Manjunath Kiran

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