Carrara [Australia], November 5 (ANI): Former all-rounder Shane Watson attributed the Impact Player rule in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as the underlying factor behind the limited growth of Indian all-rounders' skill set with the ball.

In the ongoing white-ball tour of Australia, India toured with a 15-member squad without its premier all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has been sidelined due to an injury. Shivam Dube and Nitish Kumar Reddy were included in the mix, but the latter sustained a quadriceps injury and was ruled out of the first three T20Is.

India certainly felt Pandya's absence and succumbed to a 2-1 ODI series defeat. According to Watson, Pandya, who is one of the most 'valuable' assets in the Indian setup and makes the team balanced, is something that India lacked.

'There's no question that Hardik Pandya is one of the most valuable commodities that India has got with his all-round abilities. When he comes in, it really does round out and make the Indian team across the board more balanced, stronger,' Watson told reporters on Wednesday.

To fill the void left by Pandya, Dube got a chance to roll his arms with the ball in the third T20I but was pummelled all over the ground in his three overs and returned with figures of 1/43.

Nitish, who was also a part of the three-match ODIs, bowled 5.1 overs and conceded 40 runs across two appearances.

Watson believes the struggle of India's all-rounders stems from the emergence of the Impact Player in the cash-rich league. According to the rule, a franchise can replace a player from the starting XI with a player from the substitutes list. By using Impact Player, teams have been able to prolong their batting and bowling options depending on the demands of the situation.

The 44-year-old feels that since the introduction of the rule, the role of the all-rounders has significantly reduced, especially with the ball. Due to the lack of bowling opportunities in intense scenarios, players are taking more time to develop their skills in the T20 format.

'The one thing that I've been very strong about in the IPL has been the Impact Player, which has meant that someone like Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shivam Dube have hardly had to bowl, if not bowled at all. They haven't had the IPL to be able to continue to develop their bowling skills in T20 cricket across the board. When the impact player rule came in, that was always going to be a thing that set back all-rounders' development because of that rule where a batter goes out and a frontline bowler comes in,' Watson said.

'It's just going to take them more time to be able to develop their bowling skills under pressure, because obviously, their batting skills, they get those opportunities in the IPL and across the various tournaments that they play in. But it's going to take them a bit more time to be able to develop their bowling skills in particular, especially in T20 cricket, the defensive bowling skills that Hardik Pandya has. He can take wickets, but he also has great defensive bowling skills that he's developed because of the exposure that he's had over his career,' Watson concluded. (ANI)