U19 World Cup 2026: Who is RS Ambrish? Tamil Nadu prodigy could be the next Hardik Pandya

Genuine all-rounders are a rare commodity in India and if we filter it down to pace bowling all-rounders, the list gets trimmed further. Hardik Pandya remains the only genuine pace bowling all rounder in the country and all other Indians in this category are considerably behind the Mumbai Indians captain.

India's domestic cricket and IPL are constantly on the lookout for exciting pace bowling all-rounders. An upcoming talent into this list is RS Ambrish who hails from Tamil Nadu. Ambrish is a left-hand batter who bowls right-arm medium pace, and bats in the lower order. With the ball, he takes the new ball and can also bowl as first or second change as well.

The 18-year-old is currently more of a bowling all-rounder and bats at no.8 in India's line-up in U19 World Cup 2026 but clearly, he is a lot more gifted than just being a lower order batter. In the India U19 tour of England in late 2025, Ambrish was the joint-highest wicket taker in the ODIs.

Ambrish also showed his wares with the bat with half-centuries in the four-day format in England. The Tamil Nadu lad had great exposure and success during his U19 tour of England and Australia. However, his World Cup preparations had hit a road block with a side strain that ruled him out of the Asia Cup.

The setback didn't dent Ambrish who worked his way back to peak fitness just in time for the World Cup. Ambrish shot to fame right from a younger age and in 2025, captained Tamil Nadu to glory in the Cooch Behar trophy. Apart from being a shrewd leader, Ambrish also made invaluable contributions in the semifinal and final.

Ambrish is a genuine all-rounder with the right ability to bat in the top six and capable of bowling with the new ball as well. Understandably, he is still very raw and it shall be interesting to see his progress over the next few years, especially in senior domestic cricket.