Australia vs India: 5 Observations from the ODI series

3. The top order still looks shaky

Thirdly, even India’s top order is not in the best of shape. This is a long-drawn problem now. As former Australian cricketer Tom Moody rightly said after the game in Canberra, while India’s No.6 and No.7 batsmen look steady in the form of Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja (the duo won it for them in the final match), the top five still needs to get into a coherent structure.

He recalled the infamous Ambati Rayudu case ahead of the ICC World Cup in England last year. After having played the man in the middle order for months, India eventually decided to get rid of him while choosing the squad for the big event. That was not a sound decision as it eventually turned out to be.

If we revisit the tournament, India ended up playing three wicket-keeper-batsmen in an all-important semi-final, a decision far from being the wisest. In this series against Australia, it was Pandya’s brilliant batting that helped India to go past 300 on two occasions. But that can’t hide the less-than-impressive show of some other top-order batsmen.