3 concerns that remain for India despite their T20I series win vs Australia
Team India are clearly the best team in the world in bilaterals and gave yet another example of their stature, convincingly beating Australia 4-1 in their recent T20I series.
The Men in Blue now turn their attention to a three-game T20I rubber against South Africa, which commences in Durban on Sunday, December 10. They have named a similar squad for that assignment, with Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli still missing.
Despite their win over Australia, India have a few holes that need to be plugged even when their regulars return. The 2024 T20 World Cup is around six months away, and the inaugural world champions don't have much time to start playing their best cricket.
Here are three concerns that remain for Team India despite their T20I series win over Australia.
#3 India aren't any closer to finding a sixth bowler
Why didn't India use a single over of a sixth bowler against Australia? In one of the most baffling calls taken by Suryakumar Yadav and the team management, they stuck to just five bowling options throughout the series.
Four of the five games were high-scoring, and the pitches offered plenty of assistance for the slower bowlers. Nevertheless, neither Tilak Varma (in the three games he played) nor Yashasvi Jaiswal was handed the ball.
Meanwhile, Shivam Dube warmed the bench throughout the assignment. India's steadfast refusal to experiment in bilateral series means that they are still faced with a recurrent problem - who will step up if one of the frontline bowlers has an off-day?
#2 India's T20I pace reserves look thin
Jasprit Bumrah is arguably the best T20 bowler in the world. At the very least, the Indian spearhead is the best T20 fast bowler in the world. Apart from him, though, the Men in Blue don't have much beef on the bench.
Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj are the frontrunners but aren't anywhere near as versatile as Bumrah. Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Deepak Chahar and Mukesh Kumar featured for India against Australia, but none truly stood out. Meanwhile, the likes of Umran Malik have fallen off the radar.
With the younger generation, namely Arshdeep, Prasidh and Umran, failing to impress, India are left without much strength in their pace reserves. An injury or two could completely derail their T20 World Cup campaign.
#1 There are plenty of questions regarding ideal batting slots
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul could return to the T20I side at any point, and once they do, India's plans could go for a toss.
Apart from the openers, there's hardly any clarity regarding the batters' ideal positions. Rohit, Kohli, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan and Yashasvi Jaiswal seem to be the candidates to bat at the top of the order, and all six have genuine cases to be selected.
In the middle order, things get worse. Kishan and Kohli are two names who could be moved down from opening slots, while Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma are also in the mix.
Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma's stellar displays against Australia have complicated matters, and there are rumors of Rahul batting in the middle order doing the rounds as well.
Hardik Pandya's return will only make decision-making tougher for India, with the all-rounder having batted in many roles in the format. What gets the best out of him is a question that's yet to be answered.
India need to find a way to optimize the batting resources at their disposal. Irrespective of the route they take, one or more batters are going to be left underutilized and disappointed.