There has been a lot of talk about India’s middle order conundrum.
With many questioning Rishabh Pant’s absence from the 15-man squad, Dinesh Karthik has found himself cornered in the silhouette of his fellow cricketers, while KL Rahul quietly slipped under the radar to make the 15.
Now that the squad is done and dusted and the World Cup is just a couple of days away, should we be brooding over the selection debate? Probably not.
But we can certainly ponder whether the right choices have been made. It is, of course, easy to be a selector once the tournament is done away with.
I was thrilled to see Rahul, Vijay Shankar and Karthik making it into the 15. This is primarily the same squad that India selected for the Australia and New Zealand ODI series, with the exception of Shankar making it instead of Ambati Rayudu.
Virat Kohli leads an uncertain batting order into the World Cup. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Rayudu was given his chances but as he played more and more against quality attacks, question marks over his batting increased.
Shankar, on the other hand, showed remarkable composure and temperament for not so many runs, but in testing conditions and situations.
Karthik has always been the selfless guy, doing his work to the best of his ability and displaying remarkable finishing prowess under extreme pressure situations. These are the kind of characters you need in a World Cup.
Rahul has always been a story of promises falling short, and he lives another day to fight that battle.
With Shankar’s untimely injury, if Rahul is given a chance at No.4, he can flourish.
He loves the ball coming onto the bat and has all the strokes. And contrary to popular belief, he has not been a failure in the middle order – he has barely played enough matches in that position to be labelled a failure.
Recently, Pakistan made some last-minute inclusions to their preliminary World Cup squad. Should India have also gone down a similar route?
In the recent Pakistan-England series, scores of 350 were par and Pakistan ended up losing all four games despite scoring more than 340 in three of them.
So should a destructive batsman like Pant been included at the last minute?
He brings a much needed left-handed element in the middle order, he can really shift the momentum, he can push the score from a decent 320 to a matchwinning 360 or 370, and he had a successful IPL campaign following a poor T20 stint by both Shankar and Karthik.
Virat Kohli said IPL performances won’t have a bearing on selection for the World Cup. Perhaps they are sticking to that, and perhaps we are reading too much into IPL.
KL Rahul, though, must be thanking the IPL gods for his place in the World Cup squad. Could India have taken the bold step of including Pant in the final squad at the cost of Karthik or Shankar?
India must do whatever it takes to win back the World Cup.
These questions will be answered in the coming 50 days or so.
Rats
Guest
The coach and the captain must tell KL Rahul that he is going to be the no.4 batsman. This will help me play with more freedom and confidence. He can't go into every match thinking, if I get out cheaply i will be dropped next match. Selectors definitely screwed up in the last 1 year.. They under-estimated the roles of no.4 and no.5. But at least now this is the best they can do with the squad in hand - 1. Dhawan 2. Rohit 3. Kohli 4. Rahul 5. Dhoni 6. Pandya 7. Jadeja 8. Kuldeep 9. Shami 10. Chahal 11. Bumrah 12. Bhuvneshwar, later in the tournament if one of the seamers are in poor form or injured 13. Jadhav - if someone in middle or lower middle order is injured 14. Karthik - should carry only drinks no matter what 15. Shankar - should be nowhere near the grounds
Hemant
Roar Rookie
Dav Whatmore ( coach of world cup 1996 winner sri lanka ) on bowlers in World Cup. https://m.timesofindia.com/sports/cricket/icc-world-cup/crucial-for-bowlers-at-world-cup-to-strike-in-middle-overs-dav-whatmore/articleshow/69353190.cms
Paul
Roar Guru
hi Nishant, I get the point you're trying to make, but still think it's a minor issue. A good number 4 will steer the innings, either continuing the slaughter if the top order has fired or attempting to resurrect the innings if things go astray. That said, you have a great number 5 in Dhoni to help right things and any one of a number of choices at 4, all of whom are very capable of filling that spot. Are any of these guys as good as the Indian top 3 - I'd suggest they're a tier below, but nevertheless still quality cricketers who would get into most other teams in this tournament. On that basis, yes India does have an issue but with the batting talent at India's disposal, I'd suggest this would be a long way own the list of Kohli's concerns.
NISHANT
Roar Rookie
Hi Paul, thanks for your read. I'd request you to also read my article India's middle order conundrum, the link to which is already attached in this article. In that I have expressed that India's concern is not when they are 200/2 but when they 20/2 or 20/3. Yes top 3 are going to fetch you the most runs and are world class for sure, but what about the day when they have collective failure? We saw that on the big ocassion on CT final. You don't want to believe that the match is over now. That's why a dependable and solid no. 4 is also needed ! You see the likes of England, Australia they have guys like Eoin Morgan, Steve Smith at 4! So you can't undermine the role of no. 4..! Glad that Rahul has fired, have always pinned for him at no. 4..
Hemant
Roar Rookie
https://youtu.be/dCYRZHx8bpw ( Chess World Cup final )
Hemant
Roar Rookie
10-1-200-4
Hemant
Roar Rookie
10-1-30-4
Paul
Roar Guru
I think the reality for India is, very large mountains are being made out of quite small molehills. Effectively Kohli and co had to decide which world class player should bat at 4, with 3 world class players above that position and at least 3 or 4 more below. India, in recent times, have scored huge runs in the top 3, with the rest of the batting making solid contributions. The fact this team is winning over 70% of its games against quality opposition, shows it has a very successful formula. The occupier of the number 4 batting slot will not decide India's chances in this Cup. Those will be decided by the top 3, MSD and the bowlers. If India get's it right, they are the side to beat in this tournament for sure.
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
Yes is the short answer. India are clearly the better side in world cricket at the moment across all formats. The only thing left India to prove is they can handle the relentless pressure that comes from a nation's expectation of success. When pressure is applied in the last ten overs of a finals game that's when you know who is a good side and who is a great side. Time will tell...
La grandeur d'Athéna
Roar Rookie
Hello sir. Thanks for replying. I believe you have got your calculations slightly wrong. You have referenced to Pak v/s England ODI series. I didn't watch it. So I took a quick look at cricbuzz archive. The venues the matches were played on were Bristol,Leads,Southampton,Nottingham. Another important thing to be noted is, runs pak scored are mostly scored by top 5,runs are pretty symmetrically distributed. I do not believe pak has someone who can do power hiting at a level to get 50 at 200 SR. But I believe getting likes of fakar zaman & babar azam(who is by the way,current no 1 t20 batsman in the world) in line up has done world's of goods to their batting. Their scores were mostly powered by top order, not middle / lower middle order power hitting. In modern cricket, if 1 of top 3 gets 120 from 90-95 balls, getting 330-340 becomes cakewalk.If you compare them to us, I believe on same ground we would have performed better. We chased down 270 within 40 overs in Nottingham restricting England to 269 thanks to our bowling. So I believe it is quite unnecessary to get concerned about pak's score. And I will reiterate the fact that, even if pant was there, I very much doubt him to be power hitter in same league of Russell, Maxwell or Buttler. Ow, beg your pardon, my comment was under assumption that if pant was selected then he would be in playing 11. I didn't keep the reserve wicket keeper option in mind.
NISHANT
Roar Rookie
Hi, I would like you to correct you slightly, that pant was going head to head with Karthik and not Dhoni. And I have written in the article that I was thrilled to see the likes of Karthik being selected. So I'm not a Pant fan to raise this debate again n again! However, what made me relook was the recent Pak Vs eng series. Pakistan is not a primarily batting dominant side and to see them score the likes of 340 with consistency was surprising.. which also made one realize that you also need power hitters in your 11 who can raise the score from a par to match winning score in this world cup. So I said like England & Pakistan, India could have also done some last minute changes, even though I'm a bigger Karthik fan than Pant. Thanks for your read though
La grandeur d'Athéna
Roar Rookie
People should give debate about pant little rest. Pant was never going to be destructive against any quality attacks. His blind slogging is not something we need in a tournament like world cup. He needs more time to mature up. & He was head to head with MSD for keeper batsman spot, no way he was going to come out on top over dhoni. My preferred 11 is Rohit Dhawan Kohli Kedar MSD Pandya Jadeja Chahal Bumrah Shami Bhuvi In case kedar is not fit Rahul should be in his place.