Problems that the Indian team have to address in the Asia cup
With the World cup in less than a year, the teams are trying to find their best possible combinations going into the world cup. Indian team is one of the clear favourites to lift the world cup in England and in order to do so, they have to fix some important issues.
The recently concluded India’s tour of England saw India lose to England by 2-1 in the ODI series. This is mainly due to India’s middle order woes.
#1 The Middle Order woes:
In the past 12 months, the top order of the Indian team has scored the bulk of the runs for India. What happens if the top order gets dismissed cheaply was everyone’s question?
They got their answers from the recently concluded India’s tour of England. In the last two ODI’s in which India lost the top three were dismissed cheaply and the middle didn’t have much say in those games either.
In the first that India won, the top three scored 252 runs and India won it by 8 wickets, whereas in the second ODI India lost three wickets in eleven over’s and ended up losing the game by 86 runs. In the third ODI, the Indians were set to post a big total but lost two quick wickets of Karthik and Kohli in less than five over’s. With 20 over’s left the middle order managed to score just 100 runs and eventually lost the game by 8 wickets.
If the top three fails then the Indian middle order tumbles and fails to score. This is the problem that the Indian side is facing recently.
#2 How will the Indian side counter this in the Asia Cup 2018?
The inclusion of Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, and Manish Pandey in the squad can solve this middle order woe. Rayudu, who missed the England tour as he failed the yo-yo test will be keen to make an impact in this Asia cup. He had a terrific IPL scoring runs as an opener and as a middle-order player and earned an international call-up for the England tour but unfortunately for him, he failed the yo-yo test and was taken out of the squad
However, Rayudu cleared the test recently and played for India A in the recently concluded quadrangular series and was also picked for the Asia Cup. He scored 187 runs in the quadrangular series at an average of 47. He is good with the new ball and he is brilliant against the spinners. He can nudge singles and can keep the scorecard ticking and can play the big shots too if needed. Rayudu for me will be the right pick for the number four position.
Kedar Jadhav is a handy batsman who can hit the big shots from the first ball of his innings. He can also hold the team together if in the case early wickets fall. He missed three to four months due to the hamstring injury that he suffered in the inaugural game of the IPL 2018.
Jadhav played for the India A and proved that he is fit to be in the National side for the Asia Cup. He will definitely be my number six.
Manish Pandey will be my back up for either Jadhav or Rayudu. He was dropped for India’s tour to England due to his poor performance in the last 6 months. However, he led India B to victory in the quadrangular series and scored a massive 306 runs in that series and impressed the selectors.