IND v AUS 2020: 3 areas of concern for the Indian team
With the hope and expectations of millions of fans all across the globe on their shoulders, the Indian contingent embarked on an extraordinary journey to the Australian shores with a sole mission: winning Down Under.
Cricket, and sport in general, has always found a way to bring back smiles on the faces of the people. Even in this unprecedented chaos, the Indian Premier League managed to enthral the fans with some exciting cricket in the past couple of months.
With the IPL done and dusted, it is time for the Men in Blue to take centre-stage as they face fierce rivals Australia in the first of the three ODIs at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.
A sense of excitement and a tinge of nervousness beckons the fans and supporters as the Indian team will take the field after a gap of nine months.
With two of the world's best teams locking horns, it indeed promises to be a blockbuster Friday.
Three areas of concern for the Indian team
There hasn't been any shortage of competitive cricket for both teams leading up to this much-anticipated series. While the Australian team played a white-ball series in September in England, the Indian players participated in the IPL.
However, the 50-over format possesses a different challenge for this young Indian team led by Virat Kohli.
A trophy at the global stage has eluded the Indian team since 2013, and this series provides them with an ideal opportunity to start building a solid core with upcoming global events in mind.
On that note, let's take a look at the three areas the Indian team management needs to address before the series.
1. Lack of wickets in the middle overs
After India's dismal performance in the Champions Trophy final where the spinners, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin, leaked 137 runs in their 18 overs, the Indian team handed opportunities to Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in the white-ball format.
With flat wickets on offer, the wrist spinners proved to be more than handy, as the duo formed a formidable partnership to scalp plenty of wickets in the middle overs.
Tossing the ball in the air and varying the pace to bamboozle the batters, the 'KulCha' combination worked wonders for the Indian team. However, that hasn't been the case in the past couple of seasons as they have struggled to create in-roads into opposition batting line-ups.
The rise of Ravindra Jadeja as an all-rounder in the Test arena brought about a growing desire for his inclusion in the one-day outfit as well. The southpaw offers a lot of stability with the bat lower down the order, and his fielding skills are at par with the best in the world.
Despite entering the ICC World Cup 2019 as one of the best spin-bowling units of the competition, the spinners failed to repeatedly create an impact in the middle overs, enabling the opposition to score heaps of runs.
One of the major areas of concern for the Indian team has been the inability of their spinners to pick up wickets and dent the flow of runs in the middle overs.
With wickets in hand, the opposition can launch an absolute assault at the back end of the innings resulting in a massive total on the board.
2. The opening combination
The Indian team has one of the most experienced opening combinations with the bat in Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. Unfortunately, an injury to Sharma has ruled him out of the Indian team for the white-ball leg of the tournament.
This, however, provides an ideal opportunity for the management to try and solidify the third opener's place in the team.
With KL Rahul batting at number five in the last series against New Zealand, there could be a toss-up between Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill to partner Dhawan at the top of the order.
The right-handed batter from Karnataka has been exceptional in the IPL for the Kings XI Punjab, amassing 424 in 11 league matches including a magnificent century. On the other hand, Gill was the leading run-scorer for the Knight Riders with 440 runs in 14 games at an average of 33.84.
The Indian team has time and again failed to find a stable combination at the top of the order, and this series provides them with another opportunity to give a long rope to the youngsters for the third opener slot.
3. Over dependency on Jasprit Bumrah
As one of the best fast bowlers in the international circuit, Jasprit Bumrah has single-handedly shouldered the responsibility of the Indian team in the bowling department.
The 26-year-old has picked up 104 wickets in 64 ODIs for the Indian team and has emerged as their premier bowler in the white-ball format.
If you take a closer look at the line up of the Indian team, the team does not have any bowling option in the top six. Despite recovering successfully from back surgery, Hardik Pandya is yet to bowl in competitive matches.
Coming into the IPL as his team's strike bowler after Malinga pulled out of the tournament, Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers for the Mumbai Indians with 27 wickets in 15 league matches, at an economy rate of under seven runs an over.
With the spinners not being at their absolute best in the past couple of series, the Indian team will be heavily reliant on Jasprit Bumrah to pick up wickets upfront and put the opposition under pressure.