Best Possible middle Order for Indian Cricket Team at next year's World Cup

#2 No. 5: MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni can play freely at No. 5

Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni who is highly regarded in the team for his ability to turn matches around for the team in pressure situations and finish games on his own.

Despite being one of the best finishers the game has ever known, the veteran has been subjected to severe criticism for being unable to close the innings on a high on numerous occasions.

This has led to several debates among cricket experts all over India regarding whether skipper Kohli and the team management need to promote him up the order and enable him to play the anchor role for a relatively inexperienced middle order.

Dhoni’s ability to find the boundary and ability to rotate the strike in the middle overs particularly while chasing large targets has taken a serious beating in the last couple of years.

Dhoni has scored 1399 runs in 50 ODIs following the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at a decent average of 46.63 and a strike rate of 84.37.

The numbers, however, show a huge difference when we compare them batting first and batting second. His average and strike rate of 57.86 and 95.27 in the first innings go down to 35.4 and 71.08 in the second innings.

His slow strike rate in run chases towards the beginning of his innings tends to put pressure on other middle order batsmen.

The No.5 position appears to be best suited for MS Dhoni as it would enable him to bat more freely with the support of batsmen from both number four and six at the other end.