2023 ODI World Cup: India's best XI and grey areas
What's the story
The Indian team management has some thinking to do as the Men in Blue have now suffered successive ODI series defeats.
After losing the rain-curtailed ODI series against New Zealand 0-1, India lost to Bangladesh 1-2.
Though India won the third ODI, they lacked in several areas in the other two games.
Here we look at India's best ODI XI and its concerns.
Context
Why does this story matter?
The ODI World Cup is less than a year away and India are the hosts.
As stocks of 50-over cricket have gone down lately, there has been a lot of inconsistent selection in the playing XI.
Though India fielded a strong batting line-up vs Bangladesh, they suffered batting collapses in the first two games.
India's first-choice XI looks far from settled as of now.
XI
India's strongest ODI XI as of now
Strongest Indian XI: Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Though this line-up looks powerful, several prominent names are missing.
The same highlights India's problem of plenty, which hasn't been pleasant.
The side needs to zero on in a line-up and subsequently, field the finalized combination consistently.
Openers
Too many opening options
Though Rohit's recent form hasn't been great, his position is almost certain at the top as he is the captain and a proven star of ODI cricket.
Though Shikhar also boasts a tremendous ODI record, his stocks have gone down recently.
Kishan's double ton in the third Bangladesh ODI has certainly set the cats among the pigeons and benching him won't be easy now.
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Gill, Rahul also in contention
Shubman Gill is another opener who has done well in ODIs this year. Meanwhile, KL Rahul is India's first-choice opener in Tests and T20Is and can perform the role in ODIs as well. However, he is likely to bat in the middle order in WC.
Middle-order
SKY vs Shreyas debate
Virat Kohli is back in form and his number-three position seems to be locked as of now.
The debate is for the number-four spot. Shreyas Iyer has scored a plethora of runs at the spot in the last couple of years.
However, he is competing with the top-ranked T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav, who has emerged as a ruthless hitter.
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SKY's ODI numbers aren't great
Though Suryakumar's ODI numbers aren't that colossal, the team management would be tempt to play him, given his track record. However, considering Iyer has been playing ODIs regularly, SKY's selection can be controversial. While Iyer averages 46.89 in ODIs, Suryakumar's average reads 32.
Wicket-keeper
Is KL Rahul locked as a wicket-keeper?
India's vice-captain KL Rahul has done tremendously well at number five in ODIs. His wicket-keeping has been pretty clinical as well.
As Rishabh Pant's inconsistency has been the talk of the town, Rahul looks set to keep wickets at the mega event.
However, the fact is Rahul isn't a specialist keeper and hence, handing him the job permanently in ODIs can backfire.
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What are the other options?
Kishan, who's already a part of this XI, can keep wickets. Sanju Samson is another option who averages 66 in 11 ODIs. However, the latter has been a victim of inconsistent selection. Kishan's double ton has further pushed Samson behind in the pecking order.
All-rounders
All-rounders seem pretty settled
Hardik and Jadeja's positions at six and seven, respectively, look sealed as of now.
However, the two prominent all-rounders have been injury prone.
Washington Sundar and Axar Patel have emerged as prominent choices for the all-rounder's role.
Deepak Hooda is another option, though his bowling credentials aren't rated highly.
Among pace-bowling all-rounders, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur are the other options.
Spinners
What about the spin department?
With Jadeja, Sundar or Axar being spin-bowling all-rounders, India would go with only one specialist spinner.
Though the selectors have shown confidence in Ravichandran Ashwin, the latter hasn't impressed much in white-ball games.
Hence, it would be a toss-up between wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.
Though Chahal is currently ahead in the pecking order, Kuldeep's stocks have gone higher in recent months.
Pacers
Decoding the pace department
Shami, Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar featured in the 2019 World Cup and the troika can be seen joining forces in the next year's event as well.
Interestingly, none of the three have played a lot of ODIs recently and the other names have emerged.
Mohammed Siraj has been brilliant in the format. Youngsters Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik have also shown promise.
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Nine ODIs before World Cup
Though the questions are many, India are running out of time. They have just nine ODIs before the WC and hence, they must finalize their best combination sooner than later. Focus should also be on giving the finalized combination substantial game time.