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Asia Cup: India Win Matches, But Weaknesses Remain

India have won both their matches in the Asia Cup, but there are still areas of concern.

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Two games into the Asia Cup, India have shown everything that makes them such a good side. They have also shown us most of their weaknesses.

Yes, the victory against Pakistan was clinical, bundling out the opposition for just 162, before cruising to victory with a massive 21 overs and eight wickets to spare. Comprehensive? Certainly. All bases covered? Certainly not.

Just a day earlier, India had struggled to put away Hong Kong, and if the tiny associate nation had just a bit more experience and perhaps a tad more depth, India’s goose would have been cooked.

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While in the short term, the Asia Cup will dominate eyeballs and minds, simply because there could be three India-Pakistan clashes, it is important to remember that in the bigger picture, these are all merely build-up games to the 2019 World Cup to be held in England, and India have just over 20 games to sort their squad out.

Over-Reliance on Top 3

They have the strongest top three in the world. When they fire, which is usually the case, India become irresistible – Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli can take the game away from any opposition with the bat. But no team relies as much on the top three as India does, so when they fail, India look extremely vulnerable.

Since the last World Cup, the Indian top order have scored nearly two-thirds of all of India’s runs, easily the most by any team.

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Where Does Dhoni Bat?

Not so long ago, when Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and a younger Dhoni manned the middle order, the batting had little cause to worry. Now though, the middle order is a bit of a muddle. Where does Dhoni play? Is he still the finisher with ice running through his veins, or does he now require more time to settle in?

His numbers upto the 2015 World Cup were astounding – averaging 52.46 at a strike rate of nearly 90. Since then, though, while still respectable, the numbers drop to an average of just over 44 at a strike rate of under 83. This decrease in numbers has impacted the middle order quite dramatically.

The answer then clearly seems to be that he needs to bat higher up the order, in order to give himself more time to gather momentum. But if Dhoni bats at number 4, which seems to be his current preferred position, it pushes someone else down the order – a batsman like KL Rahul or Ambati Rayudu at five does not seem ideal. Both are top-order players and batting in the middle order as a finisher requires a completely different mindset. Sri Lanka did transform Roshan Mahanama from an opener to a middle-order batsman but it was not something he was ever completely happy with.

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The All-Rounders

With none of the top order batsmen able to bowl regularly, Kedar Jadhav is vital at number six. But this means that even if he is out of form with the bat, he will need to keep playing, just because he provides the additional bowling option. He is a very clever cricketer and averages over 42 with the bat and under 30 with the ball, but he is not your typical big hitter and to expect him to dominate like Yuvraj would be very unfair to him. The batting back-ups currently are Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey, but it will be hard to keep out Rishab Pant for much longer.

Hardik Pandya is another who simply can’t be touched in this team, purely because there is no other seam-bowling all-rounder option available. But he has crossed 40 only once in the last 12 times he has had an opportunity to bat. And as we saw yesterday, someone who performs multiple roles is always susceptible to injury. In that case, not only do India lose an all-rounder, they also lose their only late middle-order hitter.

Remember, India added only 46 runs in their last ten overs against Hong Kong. And this is not an isolated occurrence. Unless one of the top order survives till the end, India invariably lose momentum towards the end of their innings – the so-called ‘slog overs’. In this day and age where teams have clearly defined roles for their players, who now takes on the role of finisher? This is particularly important as the last four batsmen in this team hardly contribute.

Hardik’s bowling is still work-in-progress. He has completed his quota of 10 overs only 11 times in 41 innings, so the team clearly needs a back-up to complete his quota.

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Back-Up Bowlers?

India’s pace bowling stocks have never been higher, but the team is still heavily reliant on Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. In a long campaign like the World Cup, injuries are to be expected and the fallbacks seem to be non-existent. Even here, Bhuvneshwar has only 93 wickets in 87 innings at an average of over 38 and so, he is perhaps not as effective in ODIs as the general perception is. In contrast, Bumrah has 66 wickets in only 38 games at just over 22 apiece!

Who are the replacements though? Shardul Thakur, on the evidence of the game against Hong Kong, certainly isn’t, even if he was not returning home with an injury. Perhaps the likes of Deepak Chahar (now drafted as the replacement for Hardik Pandya), Mohammed Shami (91 wickets in 49 ODIs at just over 25) or youngsters Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Mavi or Mohammed Siraj might be better options to try out in the lead up to next year’s World Cup.

India’s two wrist spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzhvendra Chahal seem to have locked down their places in the team, controlling the middle orders by getting regular wickets when the opposition is looking for easy, no-risk runs. But the third spinner’s spot is still wide open. Axar Patel is the current incumbent but his injury has now made way for Ravindra Jadeja to join the team in Dubai, not least because of the batting back-up they provide.

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Back to the Asia Cup – India have had one great game and one poor one. Now, in the Super Four stage, the competition will get even more intense and the heat in the cauldron that is the UAE will take a lot out of the players. Rotation may well be required, as the games come thick and fast. And even more important than winning the event, will be injury management.

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(Hemant Buch is broadcaster and writer who's worked for over two decades in this field. Cricket is his profession, and racket sports, his passion. He tweets @hemantbuch)

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