Opinion: Dhoni and Indian middle order need revamping before World Cup 2019

Team India is on a high at present. Having beaten South Africa 5-1 in the recently concluded ODI series and has also won the first T20I with comfort, they are on a wave of euphoria like very few visiting Indian teams have been in South Africa. One must bear in mind, however, that India’s success in the recent ODI series against South Africa has been largely achieved through a combination of great bowling and outstanding batting by the top three.

The story of India’s middle-order, however, is a cause for concern. Barring the second T20I, where Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni rescued India, the team’s middle-order has struggled in the limited overs matches. Even coach Ravi Shastri has expressed his concerns over this and said that there is a lot of work to be done in this area. “It’s an area that requires work to be done. The top-order has batted beautifully and our bowlers were phenomenal but the fifth, sixth and the seventh slot in the batting order needs to be worked upon. Once we’re done with this series, we’ll have to sit down and weigh all options once again very carefully,” he was quoted as saying recently.

Indeed, a lot of work has to be done to bolster India’s middle-order, especially for ODIs. Of late, the numbers 4, 5, 6 and 7 have been moved around too much and hence the Indian middle-order gives off an unsettled look. Players like Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav have all been used around in the middle-order with mixed results. Time and time again the top three Indian batsmen have laid the foundation only to find the middle-order botch things up. They have failed to capitalize on the solid starts that the top order has been providing regularly and have been finishing poorly.

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Perhaps the first thing the Indian management can do is assign specific positions to the batsmen in the middle-order and let them thrive in it for some time.

India also needs to find a proper finisher. Hardik Pandya, after flourishing for a little while, seems to have fizzled out. In the ODI series against South Africa, Pandya managed just 26 runs at a very poor strike-rate of 74.28. These are discouraging numbers and right now India is in dire need of a hard-hitting finisher who can close the games for the team.

The Dhoni dilemma, too, needs to be addressed. India’s veteran wicket-keeper batsman is not the batsman he once used to be and save for a few instances here and there, he generally struggles lower down the order. MS Dhoni flourishes the most in the No.4 or 5 positions and that is where he should be utilized now with the wealth of experience he has. At No.4 and 5, Dhoni averages above 50 and has 5 centuries along with 26 half centuries. Clearly, those are slots that he needs to be given more chances in.

Lastly, the team management should give more opportunities to talented young batsmen like KL Rahul who has been treated rather poorly by the team. He is a class player and has excelled for India in all the formats. He needs to be given more chances. Also, trying out youngsters like Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson, who have been knocking on the doors for a while, along with the 2018 U-19 World Cup stars, Prithvi Shaw and Shubhnam Gill, can be a good idea as well.

The 2019 World Cup is not very far now. India’s top order and bowling unit looks pretty solid and settled. The only chink in their armour is their sagging middle-order. The time for team India to experiment and sort out their middle-order woes is now.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)