Two perennial problems that were solved for India in the 4th ODI
India won the fourth one-day match against the West Indies by a huge margin of 224 runs. More than the manner and the margin of victory, the team management would be glad that could find a solution for two perennial problems which have been haunting the team so long.
#1 Ambati Rayudu the solution for the No.4 conundrum
In Mumbai, India stumbled upon Ambati Rayudu to be the solution for their No.4 conundrum. Rayudu came to the crease after the unexpected dismissal of Virat Kohli and put on 211 runs with Rohit Sharma.
In the process, Rayudu completed his 3rd ODI hundred off 81 balls with 8 fours and 4 sixes. Rayadu was slow to start with while Rohit was scoring all the runs at the other end reaching his 50. There was no pressure on Rayadu to score runs quickly.
He survived a stumping appeal when on 15. He reached his 18 off 29 balls before he lofted Allen over extra cover. That got him going. Rayudu stepped down the wicket to lift Nurse for a six over the bowler’s head. He reached his 50 off 51 balls and finally went on to score his third one-day century.
Rayudu turned out to be the first Indian batsman to score a century outside the top 3 since January 2017. The team management must be deeply relieved by his effort, This has solved one of their biggest headaches ahead of the World Cup.
With Ambati Rayudu at No 4, in-form Dhoni at 5, the versatile Kedar Jadhav at 6 and the all-rounder either Jadeja or Hardik Pandya at No 7, India’s middle-order looks solid, at least on paper.
Virat Kohli was spot on with his observations when he identified Rayudu as the solution to India’s No 4 problem even before the current series started. What the captain knows which the press and the experts do not know is the confidence of a particular player and how well he strikes the ball in the nets.
Rayudu had the backing of his captain and now he has proved his significance to the team.