Five Things which Indian team need to sort out before the World Cup

Five Things which Indian team need to sort out before the World Cup: The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is just round the corner not more than 20 days away and the defending champs India looks a far from settled side, still unaware of the best playing XI so by the look of the things, captain MS Dhoni and team management will have to go through a lot of sleepless nights pondering over the selection and team combination in the next few days. Here are the five things which Indian team must sort out prior to the iconic clash with the arch rivals Pakistan. 1. Opening Combination (Photo Source: BCCI) In October last year, Shikhar Dhawan came out in public and said Ajinkya Rahane’s positive strokes at the beginning of innings while opening helps him build innings as it allows him to get his eye in before playing shots. He praised Rahane so much that it made obvious that the southpaw prefers opening with Rahane over Rohit even Skipper MS Dhoni termed Rahane well suited in an opening role as he has performed consistently as an opener in IPL on tough wickets. However things have considerably changed now Rohit has cemented his place as an opening batsman after two sensational knocks at Kolkata and Melbourne and the threat is looming over Shikhar Dhawan’s place in the team. Ideally India would like a left-right opening combination but if Shikhar’s lean patch continues Men in Blue might even be forced to open the innings with the two Mumbaikars’ Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane in the ICC Cricket world cup 2015. 2. Kohli’s batting position (Photo Source: Associated Press) Without a doubt Kohli is India’s best batsman currently, and he is absolutely pivotal for India’s chances in this world cup. In spite of him being India’s ace there is a question mark over his batting position. He has an astounding average of 51.84 in ODI’s and in the last 3-4 years he is being by far the best batsman in the world at the number 3 position yet in all likelihood he will bat at number 4 as team management want to preserve him from the vicious swing of the new ball and don’t want to expose him in the first 10 overs. This decision in a way seems strange as the man has scored 16 of his 21 hundreds batting at number 3 and one would want team’s best batsman to play against best bowling but if Rahane can do a decent job at number three it can be a masterstroke too as generally in Australian and New Zealand conditions are best for batting when the shine goes off the new ball and that’s when Kohli can really cash in and play the match winning innings which he is renowned for. But if considering the current combinations and form Shikhar Dhawan is dropped and Ambati Rayudu continues to bat at number 3, it would be a real risk as Rayudu is quite vulnerable against the moving and would result in Kohli having to come to the crease earlier than what he or the managements wants to. 3. Bowling Combination (Photo Source : Getty Images) 3-2 or 4-1, 3-2 means three fast bowlers and 2 spinners and 4-1 means 4 fast bowlers and 1 spinner. Which combination will India opt for will be intriguing to see. In the first two matches of Tri Series thus far the team has gone in with 3-2 in the first match and 4-1 on the second occasion raising further questions over the more balanced combination. India always prefers to go in with 3 fast bowlers and 2 spinners but with Australian pitches not assisting spinners much India might be forced to include Stuart Binny as the 4th specialist seamer especially on the tracks like Gabba and WACA which are pace friendly. However India’s strength are spinners and playing 4 medium pacers will mean India won’t play to its strength and that will even make India’s attack more uni-dimensional. India is most likely to opt HORSES per CAUSES approach in determining the combination. 4. Best Spinners (Photo Source: BCCI) Ravinchandran Ashwin might be India’s best spinner on the basis of skills with the ball, but he has not at all lived up to the expectations of being the best spinner in the team. Neither he has been able to take wickets nor has he controlled the flow of runs. On the contrary Axar Patel has excelled in all the task which Indian captain has assigned him, be it bowling economically in the death over’s or taking wickets in the middle over’s, his performance has almost assured him a place in playing XI which means playing with two left arm spinners in the final team is certainly a possibility as Ravindra Jadeja’s who has scored at an average of 61.50 with bat in 2014 is a certain starter once he becomes fit. Final decision on whom to play between Ashwin-Jadeja and Jadeja-Axar might depend on number of left handers in the opposition team as left arm spinners are more effective against Right handers and off spinners are more prudent against Left Handers. 5. Fast Bowlers (Photo Source: Getty Images ) India’s performance in the World Cup 2015 will largely depend on how well Indian fast bowlers perform, as this is supposed to be the bowlers world cup, with wickets favoring them being rolled out on most venues. If they provide the early breakthrough with the new ball and manage to control the flow of runs in death over’s, India will be a force to reckon with in the world cup 2015. However picking the best three bowlers among the four available will be a hard task for team management. Playing Stuart Binny in the place of Bhuvanesh Kumar is another thing which will certainly be in the minds of captain and coach as Binny will provide the much required batting depth to the Indian batting. While Controlling the flow of runs is surely a task the bowlers need to focus, the primary objective should be to look for wickets, as the other is a too defensive approach to adopt. One among the three bowlers most probably Ishant Sharma will have to raise his hand and play the lead and others should follow him for India to have a real chance of defending the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand.