ICC Champions Trophy: Performance analysis of the Indian squad

The Middle Order

Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni will play crucial roles in the middle order

The middle order yet again looks largely dependent on out of form Virat Kohli. If India are to have any chances of getting out of a tough group and eventually defending their title, everyone in the middle order will need to perform their specific role. While it will be up to Kohli and Dhoni to build up the innings in the middle stages, the lower order will need to come out blazing whenever required.

Virat Kohli

The new ODI captain has played 8 matches in last 12 months and he was in scintillating form scoring 543 runs at an average of 90.50 with two hundreds and three 50s. Since then, he has had a lean patch. A shoulder injury was followed by a miserable IPL with the bat and as captain of RCB as his side managed to win just 3 games.

There is a lot of talk about Kohli’s travails with the bat in England, and it’s been nearly three years since he has last played in an ODI in England, so a lot of eyes are on him to see how he performs this time. Whatever the situation might be, India needs its captain to fire regardless of how the opening batsmen play.

Record in England

Matches	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	50s	100s
14	424	38.54	86.53	2	1

Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj will be under the scanner in all his innings

Yuvraj made a comeback after a productive domestic season and cracked a magnificent 150 against England in January. That innings gave hint that he might be back to his old self. The Punjab dasher had a quiet IPL after that with just 252 runs in 12 games at an average of 28.

Even though it seems that Yuvraj has done enough to get a look in, he has come to that stage of career where he will be on trial for every innings he plays and will need to perform consistently in order to keep his place in the playing XI.

Record in England

Matches	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	50s	100s
19	583	34.29	85.48	4	0

MS Dhoni

Dhoni has played in 11 ODIs in last 12 months (including 3 against Zimbabwe where he did not bat in all 3). He has been in reasonably good form scoring at an average of 44.62 with a century and a fifty, but crucially at a lesser strike rate of 82. During the IPL, he scored 290 runs at an average of 26.36 and strike rate of 116 – a bit ungainly performance by his standards.

With his role changing from a blaster to an accumulator, it would make sense if Dhoni bats ahead of Yuvraj at number 4 while the rest of the batting order revolves around him. He can still tonk a few in the end as we have seen from his recent IPL knocks.

With Yuvraj, Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav and even Jadeja in the lower middle order, there are quite a few big hitters in this ODI team. Hence Dhoni at number 4 will give the middle order a stability in case of a collapse and a set Dhoni in the last 5 overs is still the most dangerous batsman.

Record in England

Matches	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	50s	100s
21	519	37.07	85.64	5	0

Kedar Jadhav

Jadhav has also featured in 11 ODIs in the last 12 months but the recent series against England will surely be his career defining moment. He scored at an average of 77 and at an astounding strike rate of 144 in the 3-match ODI series. His form fizzled out in the IPL as with most of other RCB players. He still managed to maintain a strike rate of 143 in the 13 matches he played.

He should ideally come in at number 6. He might miss out if the think tank decides to play with 3 seamers and two spinners, excluding Pandya. This will be his first ODI tour to England.

Hardik Pandya

Pandya’s all-round abilities will come in handy

Pandya made his ODI debut in the series against New Zealand in October 2016. Since then he has played in 7 matches, scored at an average of 53.33 with a strike rate of almost 120. He has complimented it by taking 9 wickets at a decent average of 32.8 with an economy rate of 5.8, which is tolerable in the modern day game for an all-rounder.

He is also a very good fielder and has a safe pair of hands to take most of the catches that come his way. He looks certain to play in all matches either at number 6 or 7.

Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik is in the squad because of an injury to Manish Pandey. Karthik comes into the squad on the back of a strong showing in the domestic competitions. Although he last played for India in the Asia Cup against Afghanistan in 2014, he did play the previous Champions Trophy and did a reasonably good job.

He had pretty good IPL with 361 in 14 matches with a strike rate of almost 140. It is unlikely that he’ll get a look in and so will be on the bench most of the time.

Record in England

Matches	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	50s	100s
12	134	22.33	74.03	1	0