India's ideal batting order for the 2017 Champions Trophy
Indian cricket might appear to be a finished product at the moment with the side performing exceptionally well across the three formats, but there are still plenty of decisions to be taken by the team management in the lead up to the 2017 Champions Trophy.
Key among those are –
Should MS Dhoni still be India’s No. 1 wicket-keeper with the emergence of Rishabh Pant?
Does Yuvraj Singh merit a spot in the side?
How to accommodate Ajinkya Rahane in the side?
The combination of seamers to spinners, etc
A number of questions facing the team are regarding the batting order where there is a problem of plenty. Starved of ODI cricket, the team is at a stage when there are plenty of options for a few tightly contested spots.
With the lack of games over the past 18 months, there is no clear indication on who the team must go with.
Here, we list down India’s ideal batting order for the Champions Trophy –
Openers
Rohit Sharma
The team management will be aching to have the Mumbai batsman back in the fray. While he will always have to live with questions over his suitability in the longest format of the game, he is an absolute star in the 50-over format.
It is a format he has owned over the past couple of years as he has written his way into the record books with his double-centuries. He is currently out of the side due to a thigh injury but will be back in time for the Champions Trophy.
The only concern will be his lack of match fitness, but the team will be hoping his time in the IPL will help to get him back in the zone.
Shikhar Dhawan
Despite the criticism often leveled at him, Dhawan has proved to be a big-game player over the years. He is a player who needs a stage to perform and there is none bigger than the 2017 Champions Trophy.
In major ICC tournaments as well as the Asia Cup, Dhawan has an average that betters his career average at 60.43 compared to 43.36. In the last edition of the Champions Trophy, held at the same venue in England and Wales, he was India’s hero as he ended as the Man Of The Series after scoring the most number of runs.
He has played with Rohit over the years and they form a solid left hand-right hand combination at the top of the order.