How India can use the series against WI to prepare for Australia

4. Assess the 6-5 strategy

For a while now Kohli & co. have made it clear that they prefer going in with 6 batsmen and 5 bowlers in tests. Some experienced ex-cricketers have not really liked this approach and recommended having the extra batting cushion specially at the start of an away series. I for one am in favor of the 6-5 strategy. The drawback of not having an additional front line bowling option is a defensive move and was clearly on display during the last test at Oval where Cook and Root, who just couldn’t score throughout the series made our bowlers toil specially after Ishant was injured.

However, I feel that the team should take this aggression one step further. With Pandya , the 6-5 seems more like a 6-4-1 where we are uncertain of what to expect from him in both batting and bowling department. I feel either Bhuvneshwar or Jadeja will be better suited for the 6-5 strategy. Both of them are accomplished bowlers at the international level and can contribute reasonably well with the bat lower down the order.

Bhuvi is temperamentally stronger than Pandya and Jadeja. He can hang around with one of the top order batsmen to build a partnership lower down the order when needed and has the technique to score a few runs himself. During the SA tour earlier this year, he faced the second most balls among the India batsmen (Kohli faced the most). Jadeja has played some crucial knocks in testing conditions in the past- his half century at Lords in 2014 and Oval at 2018 for example. Only if Kohli manages to win a few tosses in Aus, Jadeja can form a lethal alliance with Ashwin in the 4th innings on the Australian tracks where the cracks usually open up on days 4 and 5.

To assess the three on a same scale, I have included their stats from their performance in England over the years:

Picture 4: Bhuvi or Jadeja have a case to be a part of the team in the 6-5 strategy