By Adarsh Chauhan

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], May 24 (ANI): Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson said he believes that despite the brutal physical toll of a relentless 12-month cricket calendar, the unique 'beauty' of being a genuine all-rounder lies in the permanent opportunity to have an influence on the game.

Watson, one of the highly-rated all-rounders of the modern era, especially in the shorter formats, acknowledged that the global explosion of T20 cricket, especially the franchise leagues, alongside international commitments has turned the game into a non-stop, year-round cycle. He noted that the physical demands are particularly severe on fast-bowling all-rounders, who must continuously balance high-intensity skill development for both facets of the game.

Speaking to ANI, Watson spoke about his own experience after the Indian Premier League's (IPL) introduction in 2008 to highlight how demanding the cricket calendar became, saying he spent nearly 10 months each year playing a mix of international and franchise cricket.

'It's definitely very challenging. There's no question. Being an all-rounder, from really the moment that IPL really came in 2008 and me playing international cricket as well as IPL, I was playing just about nearly 10 months of the year. So that was 2008 sort of onwards,' he said.

Notably, in recent times, it has become very common for top-quality all-rounders to miss significant chunks of cricket due to fitness concerns. From Australian captain Pat Cummins to England skipper Ben Stokes, and including players such as Mitchell Marsh, Cameron Green, Sam Curran, and Indian star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, many have struggled with fitness issues and have had to be carefully managed by their respective cricket boards.

Watson said modern-day cricketers now face a year-round schedule, with every gap in the calendar filled by either franchise leagues or international cricket, making the sport virtually non-stop.

'So there's no question that there continues to be any gap of time that's available, whether it's a franchise tournament or whether it's international cricket, that's being filled with cricket opportunities for all the cricketers. So that just means that it's non-stop now. It's 12 months of the year,' the former Australian cricketer added.

However, Watson said that although being an all-rounder is very challenging due to the heavy volume of modern cricket, it remains highly rewarding because players always have multiple ways to impact a match. He explained that even when a batter doesn't score runs or a bowler doesn't take wickets, an all-rounder can still influence the game through the other discipline, which he described as the 'beauty' of the role.

Watson added that this ability to contribute in different ways is what he enjoyed most about his career and what he also sees in discussions with emerging Australian player Cameron Green while working with him in the Kolkata Knight Riders camp as an Assistant Coach.

Watson ended his international career with 3,731 runs in 59 Test matches at an average of 35.2, including 24 fifties and four centuries, along with 75 wickets at an average of 33.68. In ODIs, he scored 5,757 runs across 190 matches at an average of 40.54, registering 33 fifties and nine centuries, while also claiming 168 wickets at 31.8. In T20Is, He amassed 1,462 runs in 58 matches at an average of 29.24, including 10 fifties and one century, and took 48 wickets at an average of 24.73.

'So even though it's challenging, it's difficult, and it's going to continue to be difficult because of the amount of cricket that is on, the one thing that I absolutely loved about being an all-rounder is you've always got an opportunity to be able to have an impact on the game. You're not always going to score runs. You're not always going to take wickets or have an impact with the ball. But when you've got both aspects available to you, there's normally not too many games where you haven't had an impact, and that's a beauty, and the thing that I loved the most about being an all-rounder,' he said.

'Talking to guys like Cameron Green, for example, that I've been working with recently, that's the thing that he absolutely loves as well, and that's the beauty of it,' Watson added.

The former Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals cricketer said being a fast-bowling all-rounder is especially demanding because players must constantly manage their fitness, workload and skill development, while also coping with the intense physical demands during matches.

'Being a fast bowling all-rounder in particular, it provides a lot more challenges to be able to manage your body as a starting point, to be able to try and stay fit throughout for as long as you can, to be able to access your skills and implement your skills in games. But there's no doubt, I knew through experience how challenging it was to be a fast bowling all-rounder that demands on your time for skill development at training, but then your demands in the game as well,' he said.

Watson said that while being a fast-bowling all-rounder is not easy due to its heavy physical demands, it also creates great opportunities, as such players often become valuable and almost indispensable to every team they represent.

'But certainly it's not easy. There's serious demands on a fast bowling all-rounder in particular, but that's the incredible opportunities that you become really nearly indispensable in every team that you play in,' he said.

Shane Watson serves as one of its Super Coaches for Kabuni, an AI-powered sports technology platform redefining cricket training.

Kabuni's platform is designed to transform traditional net practice by capturing player movement and ball tracking in real time, translating it into simple, actionable feedback. With its unique '1% improvement' approach, the system focuses on small, immediate corrections that lead to meaningful performance gains over time.

By integrating voice, video, and visual cues, Kabuni ensures that feedback is not just data-heavy but intuitive and easy to apply, particularly for young and developing players.

Watson said that the biggest opportunity for technology and AI in cricket is bridging the gap between grassroots and elite-level coaching by sharing high-level experience and knowledge more widely. He explained that platforms like Kabuni allow him to pass on lessons, philosophies, and technical foundations he gained throughout his career--from elite coaches and world-class teammates--to any young cricketer around the world who wants to learn and improve.

'The biggest gap is to be able to get people like me with the incredible experiences that I've been so fortunate to be able to have and the knowledge that I've been able to gain over my career, not just from my own playing day, but also from the ridiculous cricketers that I was so fortunate to be able to play with throughout my career. To be able to bring that knowledge to any person, any kid around the world, if they want to be able to unlock my knowledge of understanding of batting, my understanding of so many different things, that they can sign up to me as a Super Coach and just learn all the lessons, all the philosophies, all the technical foundations that I learned over a long, long period of time myself with a lot of incredible coaches that I've worked with throughout my playing days, but then also the incredible cricketers that I've played with as well,' he said.

Watson added that AI technology being developed by Kabuni will make his experience and cricketing knowledge accessible to boys and girls anywhere in the world, allowing young players globally to benefit from the insights and understanding he has gained throughout his career.

'So it just means that any boy or girl out there in all different parts of the world are going to have access to my knowledge, my knowledge and understanding, because what the technology, the AI technology that Kabuni are building means that anyone around the world gets access to all the information and knowledge that I've gained,' Watson said. (ANI)