3 Problems India need to address before the 2019 WC
The Indian team is on cloud nine at the moment by clinching the first ever ODI series on South African soil. Even though the hosts were poor in batting, their bowlers exposed the inexperienced Indian middle order in the last three games. Though the brilliance of top three (Shikhar and Virat in particular) more than made up for the rest but it cannot be denied that India should have reached 300 in the last three games.
Dhoni is no longer the finisher he was back in the days and the rotation of Iyer, Manish, Jadhav and Karthik for the remaining slot is also a major issue. Along with that, India needs to find a pool of 4-5 good fast bowlers before the WC.
Let us take a look at what are the other issues that need to be addressed:
#3 Role of Hardik Pandya
Is he the batsman who bowls or the bowler who bats?
This question must be on the mind of the coach as so far in the One Day series he has scored 26 runs at an average of 8.67 and taken 3 wickets at 59. So clearly by his numbers, he is nowhere near the player he was when he burst onto the scene first.But with that said, he pulls off a glorious performance once in a while (like he did in the 5th ODI) which makes him the X factor of the side. There is little doubt over his ability but at the same time consistency has eluded him to be considered in the mold of Ben Stokes, Shakib and other modern day greats.
If he is the future finisher, then he needs to provide decent finishes rather than playing loose shots and gifting his wicket away. Also if Kohli sees him as the third seamer, then he should work more on his bowling and give his side 7-8 good overs.