World Cup 2019: How questionable team selections could hurt India at the business end of the tournament
India had started its World Cup 2019 campaign with convincing wins against South Africa, Australia, Pakistan and displayed amazing level of consistency. However, the untimely injury to star opener Shikhar Dhawan which subsequently ruled him out of the tournament, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar being ruled out for atleast the next few games with a hamstring injury, has left India with quite a few concerns.
India took on Afghanistan in their last game at Southampton and received a thorough reality check. Having opted to bat first, India lost Rohit Sharma early in their innings. KL Rahul and Virat Kohli provided much needed solidity, ably supported by Vijay Shankar as well. However, India's middle order struggled to accelerate, showing very less intent.
India's Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar also highlighted the said fact by commenting on MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav's slow innings -
“I felt slightly disappointed, it could have been much better. I was also not happy with the partnership between Kedar and Dhoni, it was very slow. We batted 34 overs of spin bowling and scored 119 runs. This was one area where we didn’t look comfortable at all. There was no positive intent.”
MS Dhoni managed to score just 28 runs of 52 balls, while Kedar Jadhav ended up scoring 52 of 68 balls and India were restricted to a below par score of 224/8 in their 50 overs. It was India's lowest score batting first while consuming their full quota of 50 overs since 2015.
However, Indian bowlers impressed and held their nerves. Jasprit Bumrah delivered once again with fantastic bowling display and bailed India out of a tricky situation. Mohammed Shami too chipped in and gave away only 4 runs in the final over, which included a well deserved hat-trick. India just about managed to beat Afghanistan by a narrow margin of 11 runs.
The World Cup has reached its business end and India has a few concerns going ahead. The selection of Rishabh Pant as a replacement for Shikhar Dhawan seems to be a very questionable decision. India currently does not have a reserve opener and picking Rishabh Pant is not solving any purpose.
In event of untimely injury to existing openers (Rohit Sharma or KL Rahul), India will have to gamble to play Kohli as an opener. While already having Dinesh Karthik in the World Cup squad, the replacement selection of Pant for Dhawan is highly questionable.
India could have gone for experienced Ajinkya Rahane instead, who would have been extremely useful as a reserve opener in UK conditions. India also has the likes of Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw among others to fill in reserve opener's role.
Also with Bhuvneshwar Kumar ruled out for next few matches atleast, India no longer bat deep. The likes of Kuldeep, Shami, Bumrah and Chahal are not at all known for batting. With India's middle order looking rusty, it would make sense of involving an all-round utility player like Ravindra Jadeja in the playing 11 to strengthen their batting.
Jadeja can play a huge role in providing the much needed balance to the Indian team. Having known for his all-round exploits, Jadeja would provide much needed impetus in not only batting department, but also as an excellent fielder and useful bowler. India would be much more confident as a team going forward by including Ravindra Jadeja in their line-up.
India had started their World cup campaign in an emphatic fashion and the entire nation is hopeful that it will manage to get the World Cup home.
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