BIRMINGHAM: A out, B in, C standby. B out, C in, D standby. E would have been better. No, F. And it goes on...
At a time the Indian team should have been able to identify the best possible options for the middle-order slots, they keep getting farther from it. As result, with a critical phase of the World Cup approaching, they find themselves staring at blanks. Replacements have been named and changes made on a regular basis. The missing pieces of the puzzle are still to be found.
A part of it can be blamed on luck. Two players getting hit by the ball before being ruled out of the competition is an unforeseen scenario. The other part can be blamed on how the situation has been handled. Title contenders should have able back-ups, if not as good as the first option, at least almost as good. This team seems to be shooting in the dark. What else explains selection of players who have at best been rarely tried out in the positions they are picked to fill!
Mayank Agarwal in place of Vijay Shankar makes sense if he is sent out to open and KL Rahul is pushed back to No 4. But that would mean subjecting Rahul to a snake and ladder game and it won’t happen in Tuesday’s game against Bangladesh. So India have no choice but to persist with Rishabh Pant in the middle-order, most probably at No 4, which is a position he seldom bats at. Even Plan B or C would mean asking others to fit in a role they are not accustomed to. Bad luck or bad planning?
No faith in middle-order
The most perceptible result of this lack of clarity over the middle-order is a lack of faith in players batting No 4 downwards. It was visible in the way Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli concentrated on preserving wickets instead of accelerating while chasing 338 against England. Even if they wanted to, they didn’t take chances, knowing that another wicket would expose the problem areas. Those after them can be trusted to hit out when 15 overs are remaining, but expecting them to play the building game is not an option.
Teams with so little confidence in Nos 4 and 5 can only hope that the top three hangs around till the time comes for the late charge. When this plan clicked, India got winning totals. If it doesn’t, there is too much left to luck. “A lot of batting has been done by the top three, so we wanted to make sure they try to bat as long as possible. That was (the plan) between me and Virat. We wanted to make that partnership big, that was the idea,” said Rohit after the England match. Valid justification of strategy or an admission of weaknesses lower down? Open to interpretation.
The cascading effect
Uncertainty over No 4 doesn’t only make it difficult for the eventual occupant of the slot to prepare mentally, it also creates confusion later down the order. It could be Pant today, Hardik Pandya tomorrow and Rahul the day after. So far four players have played there in six matches and nobody knows who it is finally going to be. Effectively, it makes everybody unsure of their role.
Asked whether this is a destabilizing factor, Rohit didn’t agree. “I thought we made it clear that Vijay would play, but he got a toe issue. Every team will have one or two or three unsettled players. There have been changes every now and then based on the opposition and conditions. There will be changes now and then.” Strategic flexibility or positional confusion? Again, open to interpretation.
Jadhav the victim
With MS Dhoni struggling to middle the ball, Kedar Jadhav has been caught in no man’s land. In the XI as specialist batsman, he has not been tried at No 4 and most of times come out to bat at No 7. This means that after No 3, Pandya is the only one trusted to make a meaningful contribution. As far as the rest goes, there is total confusion. Unbecoming of title contenders? Let time tell.