"Natural successor to Hardik": Doeschate lauds Nitish Kumar Reddy

Team India will be playing the final ODI against Afghanistan at Chennai, with the series 2-0 in favour of India already. Over the last few years and in recent months, Team India has witnessed plenty of all-rounders with Washington Sundar, Manav Suthar, Harsh Dubey and Tanush Kotian emerging as quality spin all-rounder options.

As far as pace bowling all-rounders are concerned, Nitish Kumar Reddy has emerged as a frontline contender to succeed Hardik Pandya in the coming years.

Speaking ahead of the match on his team's all-rounder bench strength, Doeschate said he would still say the majority of these guys are bowling all-rounders.

"And when Hardik plays, he obviously brings a different element because he is such a strong batter, such a strong finisher. A sort of role scarcity is difficult to find a finisher who gives you overs as well," he said.

"So those guys are all tracking really nicely. Like I said with Nitish, for the last 18 months, he's shown glimpses of how important he can be to this team, particularly in this format. And I feel his body's getting stronger and stronger, and I sort of feel he is the natural successor or backup to Hardik," he added.

He expressed happiness at the other all-rounders working on their game and chipping in with contributions, pointing out the importance of handy lower-order batters in South Africa for the Cricket World Cup 2027.

"Even someone like Gurnoor (Brar) and Harsh (Dubey), they are all bowling all-rounders. But the fact that we feel we've got guys who can hold the bat at number nine, obviously looking forward for the next 14, 15 months, that is going to be very important. Especially in South Africa, when you want to play three proper out-and-out seamers, those guys are going to need to bat. A lot of good signs on the all-rounder front and also on the fast-bowling front. I think it's been refreshing this week to see Prince, to see Gurnoor, to see Aquib Nabi," he said. (ANI)