5 areas India must work on after the Australia series

The Indian cricket team was very convincing in its performance in the recently-concluded ODI and T20I series against Australia. India, the better team through the series, was able to capitalize on crucial situations and were able to make Australia look weaker than they actually are.

The entire credit for this dominant display should be given to the team management and the players for executing their plans to utmost perfection. Barring the one defeat each in both the series, there were a number of positives for the Virat Kohli-led team.

The most prominent of those was the emergence of the spin-duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzhvendra Chahal, who have been strong replacements for the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

India will now play a couple of home tours before traveling to South Africa in January next year. Keeping the same in mind, here are the key areas India need to work on after the Australian series:

#5 Testing the bench

Post the Champions Trophy that concluded in June this year, India went on two full-fledged away tours of West Indies and Sri Lanka. Then followed the Australia series.

To the surprise of many, India sent their full strength squad to the Carribean Islands, to face a hapless West Indian unit. Players like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma could've also been rested by the selectors after India won the ODI series against Australia, more so after considering the long stretch of home matches that is to follow. Avoiding player-burnout is extremely crucial.

The players sitting on the bench also need to get regular match practice. Someone like KL Rahul could have benefited by playing in home conditions, especially after his disappointing tour of Sri Lanka, where he succumbed to the spin of Akila Dananjaya repeatedly. Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav were also underplayed.

The tendency to tinker around with the winning combination is not common in cricket. However, India should still keep the upcoming series in perspective and try to test their bench strength further.

#4 The number 4 position

Should Ajinkya Rahane be tried at Number 4 once again?In the past 12-15 months, India have tried a lot of batsmen at the number 4 in their ODI lineup. Yet, none of them have made it their own through the said period. Players like Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni, Manish Pandey, and Rahul have tried their hand at the two-down.

Naturally, number 4 is a very important position for any ODI side. When Dhoni was pushed up to that position, he was pretty effective. But looking at the lack of experience in the lower middle order, he was pushed to his original position down the order yet again.

That gave the likes of Rahul and Pandey to establish themselves in the ODI team leading up to the ICC World Cup 2019. However, neither of them have been able to put up a score of substance. The string of single-digit scores for both batsmen has been a cause for concern for team India.

Due to such inconsistency at number 4, the lower middle order gets exposed and that at times can prove to be fatal for Kohli's team. The same was seen in the second T20I against Australia, where the top order collapsed and the lower order batsmen couldn’t salvage much.

The options before India are to get Dhoni bat at number 4 or try Ajinkya Rahane for the position one more time. The right-hander is a solid, classy and trustworthy batsman who can bat with the likes of Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Dhoni.

This problem needs to be addressed at the earliest or else it could be a huge weakness for opponents to capitalize on, more so in overseas conditions.

#3 Virat Kohli's form

The captain is in the middle of a lean patch with the batKohli’s thumping captaincy has overshadowed his batting in the last 12 months, more so in the one-day format. He didn’t have a great ICC Champions Trophy with the bat and his performances thereafter haven't been akin to the level he has set for himself.

There is no doubt about his caliber or his outstanding ability to gauge the match situation pace his innings accordingly. He has even got a decent amount of runs in the series India has recently played, but that hasn't had a big impact on the team's overall performance.

The combination of other batsmen contributing when Kohli has failed and also the fine form of India’s bowlers has helped in taking Kohli's mediocre performance away from scrutiny. They have been able to dominate despite Kohli being way below his best.

As India look forward to the upcoming home season and the tour of South Africa that follows, they would need their captain to get over this lean patch and deliver for them like he has in the past.

The right-handed batsman has certain worrying flaws in his technique. He struggles in tackling out-swingers immediately after he comes in to bat and in handling the in-swing of left-arm fast seamers. These are flaws will be exposed much more when India travel overseas to countries like South Africa, England, and Australia.

With this Indian team under doing so well under Kohli, many feel they can give South Africa a run for their money when they travel to the East. Along with his brand of captaincy which has yielded positive results so far, one would hope Kohli, the batsman, gets back to scoring big runs on a more consistent basis.

#2 Questionable selection of the bowling unit

With the likes of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yadav, Chahal, and Pandya in their ODI team, India seems to have got a well-balanced bowling unit for the format.

Each bowler has added immense value to the team and has been instrumental in the team’s success of late.

However, managing workload is an important aspect of the modern game. The team needs to have a stable set of backup bowlers who can do the job when called upon.

This is where the selection has been a little unfair to certain players. Players like Yadav and Shami were part of the squad for the Australian series but hardly got a chance to step onto the field. When they did get an opportunity, they went off-the-boil and looked rusty.

It is crucial that India build a steady squad during the home season before heading towards their overseas commitments. The decision to pick Shradul Thakur and leave out Shami and Yadav for the upcoming series against the Kiwis is a bit strange.

The fact that these players will play the Ranji trophy instead of warming benches in international cricket is promising. However, the question to be asked is: Are they part of the ODI team plans for the ICC World Cup 2019?

If yes, then the team needs a lot more stability in its bowling unit.

#1 Is fitness the only criteria for selection?

After MSK Prasad taking over as the chief of selectors, the selection trend has been to put a lot of emphasis on fitness standards, more so for the ODI team.

It is a good sign that fitness levels of players is being scrutinized to the last level.

However, one can argue that is that fitness is not the only parameter to select players for the ODI team.

It becomes an even bigger problem, considering some big names seem to have been overlooked solely on the basis of the same. Their performances of late haven’t warranted their omission from the ODI squad.

The quality of the players and their recent performances should also be considered along with his fitness standards while evaluating him for national selection. If the national selectors wish to build a team of specialists, that should be conveyed to the media and the regular Indian cricket fan, so as to put an end to any speculation about the same.