The World Cup is just about a year away and there are problems galore for the Indian ODI team.
India just lost the ODI series 2-1 to England. They have lots to think about in terms of their team combination.
The Indian ODI team over the years has become a top heavy side. They are a team which relies heavily on Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to come good every game they play. The batting proceeding them has been lacklustre and non-existent in recent times.
KL Rahul who was promoted to number three for the T20Is ahead of the captain, once again showed how frustrating it is for the fans to constantly support him. After that wonderful hundred in the first T20I, Rahul went missing from the rest of the series.
Suresh Raina made a comeback into the ODI team but looked completely out of place with the bat and Hardik Pandya cannot be relied upon to provide consistent runs at number 6.
The biggest problem for India is the MS Dhoni conundrum.
The genial wicket keeping batsman has been struggling at the highest level for a while now and India haven’t been able to take a call on his spot. The number 4 position is still a concern and the team hasn’t been able to slot the right player into that spot yet.
The shaky middle order means that India are far away from being a settled ODI unit. The Indian bowling attack as well is looking extremely suspect.
Virat Kohli has been heavily relying on the spin twins of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav to provide him the breakthroughs but when they don’t come off, the bowling looks toothless.
The absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah hurt the Indian bowling plans and the backups weren’t able to step up to the plate.
Even though a 2-1 loss does not seem that harsh, the manner of defeats for sure is very concerning.
The India A team which is also in England right now has thrown in some very interesting names. Rishabh Pant has been brilliant with the bat in both the List A and first class games. Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill have shown that they are ready to play at the highest level.
MA Agarwal and H Vihari also had a brilliant series with the bat. There are other batsmen like Sanju Samson and Shreyas Iyer waiting in the wings as well.
The bowling of the A-team saw some interesting names thrown in as well like Khaleel Ahmed, Prasidh Krishna and Deepak Chahar. Apart from that we have Krunal Pandya as the spin bowling all-rounder.
He can replace one of the specialist spinners to give India the much needed lower order boost with the bat.
The Indian selectors in the coming months need to take some tough decisions. MS Dhoni has been a legend for India and still probably is India’s best wicketkeeper but his batting has declined a lot and this series has shown that India need to look for alternatives.
The selectors have a large pool of talented youngsters to pick from and I hope that they do try out some young names in the upcoming games.
The world cup is not that far away and with limited time at hand the team is racing against time to figure out the right combination ahead of the marquee tournament.
Adz Sportz
Roar Guru
I think it's win the World Cup or bust for india!!
Aanirudh Kheterpal
Roar Rookie
Agreed
Brian
Guest
I think India will win in Australia if they play the right batsman which they did not do in South Africa. Not all batsman are going to fire in a series but in Rahul, Pujara, Kohli and Rahane they have 4 with the technique to score heavily in Australia. If 3 of them are in form India should win.
Paul
Roar Guru
No Warner, no Bancroft, no Smith. Your guys are still odds on to win.
Rats
Guest
This article is a relief. Thank you so much.. Finally a realistic assessment of India's situation.. Moving on to Tests, for all those who think India has good line of fast bowlers waiting in line, we are going to soon figure out how much international standard they are. And if they are proved ineffective in English conditions, we might as well lose hope of winning in Australia.
George
Guest
Woakes offers loads with bat and ball, as he showed in Aus and NZ.
Kopa Shamsu
Guest
i am not so sure about these top three.Rohit,dhawan and kohli.They will always struggle against quality bowling. Lokesh rahul is india's most technically sound batsman followed by rahane. For some mysterious reason LKR was dropped after first match.
KenoathCarnt
Guest
India need to bleed their young guns they have a tremendous amount of talent just waiting. They need to look past a few big n8ames IMO. Players like Pant,Sanju Samson,Iyer are all exceptional talents that could really make an impact in this series. They should also consider older heads like Ambati Rayudu and Kartik.
JimmyB
Guest
Yes, their batting is better than their bowling, but given that they’re the best batting side in the world at the moment that’s not surprising. Being ‘batting heavy’ is an interesting one because all of the England bowlers are decent batsmen apart from Wood perhaps although he’s no mug, it’s interesting because they haven’t tried to shoehorn these guys in because of their batting apart from probably Moeen originally, although his bowling in ODIs now far exceeds his batting in terms of value to the team. My point is that there’s not a bowler who’s not in the team currently who’s not there because of his batting. In terms of struggling to defend scores of 260, all teams would generally struggle to do this nowadays. England would love to have an out and out strike bowler at their disposal (although one could argue that Rashid fits into that category) but I believe that once Woakes is back fit and Stokes rediscovers some form then England’s bowling attack will be pretty decent and well balanced.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
English bowling is lesser of their two skills. They are a batting heavy team. They do struggle if their batting flops, similar to the Indian team. When they score 300+, their bowling is as good as any. As we saw in the first game when India had to chase just 260 odd, English bowling looked pedestrian. I am not saying they are not good as every ODI side in the world have similar issues on these pancakes with short boundaries.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Manish Pandey was give a good run in the team at number 4. He just wasn't cutting it. He just seemed like a player with no higher gear and got stuck in the middle without accelerating the scoring rate. He had a great start to his career but has deteriorated over the last year or so.
JimmyB
Guest
I’m sorry but I’m getting a bit fed up with this narrative that England have a ‘suspect’ or ‘mediocre’ bowling attack. Have they taken some punishment in the odd games? Yes they have, but so has every bowling attack, would they like a bowler like Starc? Off course they would, but so would every team. They’re proving to be a well balanced attack for the most part and if Moeen rediscovers his batting chops, Stokes remembers who he is and Woakes comes back into the equation then they’ll be a formidable proposition for any team.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Never been convinced by Manish Pandey. He is way too inconsistent. Agreed on karthik. He should not be here and the only conceivable reason I can see is the injury to Saha for which he was brought along to get used to the conditions.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Yup Raina and Dhoni need to go from the ODI team. I am all for KL Rahul but again I want him to be little bit more consistent that's about it. He came into the England series in tremendous form but just played one good innings. I just hope he realises the potential he has and justifies the same. There is lots of competition for a spot in the Indian cricket team and KL might not get too many opportunities.
Paul
Roar Guru
hi Giri England have a lot of guys who can bat a bit on dead flat tracks or where the bowlers are not taking advantage of conditions. The advantage they have over India are guys in really good ODI batting form - Bairstow, Roy, Hales, Butler, Root, etc. They are less likely to depend on a few top order players, but it only takes one game where their approach fails. Stokes must be a worry for them - sure he made a 50 off 100 deliveries and went for plenty off his bowling. He's a bit like Dhoni at the moment, upsetting the balance of their team.
BurgyGreen
Guest
India are shooting themselves in the foot by playing Dhoni, Raina, and in my opinion Karthik. Dhoni's well past it, Raina was never more than decent, and Karthik has never looked like a proper ODI batsman. Maybe a solid keeper batsman, but he can't justify a place as a specialist. As you've mentioned there are plenty of other options. India need to pick a couple and stick with them. Manish Pandey has a solid ODI record, and I think KL Rahul is ready to be a permanent fixture in all formats.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Thanks Anindya. The biggest problem for India is that when Bhuvi and Bumrah are missing, the bowling looks pedestrian. The back up pacers aren't that good at the moment. Also Virat needs to realise that Hardik Pandya isn't a third pacer, he is at best a 6th bowler, who will give you 10 overs once in a while. The Indian batting at the moment starts and ends with the top 3 in ODIs, which is little concerning. Suresh Raina needs to go and sadly for him, this might be the end of the road for him as far as the national side is concerned. The Indian selectors need to take the bull by the horns and blood some young players for the upcoming Asia cup in UAE. The selectors also need to have a chat with Dhoni to let him know that things aren't working out for the legendary cricketer. I hope that Dhoni realises this himself and makes way for the youngsters. So this leaves us with two spots in the batting. Rishabh Pant is an obvious choice and I hope he gets picked in the Test team. The batting spot is still a concern, I hope the selectors pick young batsman and do not go back to Kedhar Jadhav. The reason I wanted Krunal Pandya in the X1 is because of the long tail India has in the LOIs. Replacing Chahal with Krunal will give us a spin bowling option and also will give us a extra batsman. The UAE series will be a great place to test out some young players. The A tour has thrown in some very good names and I hope the selectors are taking a note.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Good one Giri. I think the bowling will be sorted out with Bhuvi and Bumrah back in the side. Krunal Pandya is not a bad option but where do you fit him in? I can only spot Chahal’s position and honestly I would keep Chahal there. What these 4 bowlers do however is shorten the batting line up As among them only Bhuvi is a good bat. Rahul is a superb player and needs to be in the side so there is clearly no place for Raina who is now a liability. The question really is whether Dhoni is replaced by Rishabh Pant. I suspect Rishabh may get to play in one of the Tests this series as he is in the team Saha being injured. That will give him a long run at his wicket keeping, which is not unlike many modern wicket keepers, his weak spot. What people forget however is that when Dhoni was picked for the Indian side he was deemed a below average wicketkeeper by the talent scouts (I was told this by two former players who were part of the decision at the time) but a hard hitting batsman the likes of whom India had not seen for many years. So maybe it’s time to take that leap of faith with Pant.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Thanks Paul. I agree, India needs to come up with solutions quickly in the batting department. Also regarding MS Dhoni, the selectors need to have a chat with him and discuss his future in the team. I understand that he wants to play the 2019 WC but that shouldn't be on the expense of the team itself. England though look the most settled of the teams at this point. Their bowing is suspect but they are playing at home so they will be okay. Their batting though is extremely good and long. They were missing Chris Woakes as well.
Paul
Roar Guru
FINALLY! Excellent article Giri and an honest assessment of India's current ODI position. If you look at the side that played in the 3rd ODI, with Dhoni batting 5, you have 7 all rounders or bowlers in a very long tail. You correctly point out, this puts a huge amount of pressure on the top 4 to score heavily, but it also places a real strain on the bowlers, to take wickets while keeping the runs under control. In that game, England bowled exceptionally well, India's top order didn't handle the conditions, Dhoni batted slowly then threw his wicket away and then, when it was England's turn to bat, they milked the spinners for 96 and won the game impressively. Both India and England have adopted similar high risk strategies to win games and to date, it's difficult to argue against this approach. The problem is, it only takes one or two games where the top 4 are down in form and the rest of the side struggles. India has lots of time to sort out a replacement for Dhoni - but who's going to tell him!