New Zealand series loss: Lessons to be learnt for Team India before World Cup 2015

There is no way out of this misery for Team India without Cheteshwar Pujara

Despite all these successes, the biggest argument against the Saurashtra stalwart is that he is too cautious to have a significant impact in limited overs cricket. The fundamental flaw in this argument has been exposed time and again by the success of the so called Test specialists in the One-day arena such as Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and now even Kane Williamson.

Moreover, with new balls from both ends, the world cup being scheduled on the naturally bouncy tracks down-under and the presence of probably one too many aggressive batsmen in the line-up, it’s this caution and solidity of Pujara that is going to serve India the best. He can quite easily be slotted in at number four, which would allow Dhawan, Rohit and even Virat to play freely and exploit the fielding restrictions with the knowledge of having someone as solid as Pujara to follow.

The other possible option is to bring Pujara as an opener as he has been quite successful in the limited opportunities that he has got at that position in Tests, and possibly push Rohit back down to his original middle order position at number four.

But more importantly, with an average of over 54 in 68 List A innings, it is imperative that with just two failures in One-dayers at the international level, the Saurashtra run-machine is not discarded as a limited overs choice.

The lower middle muddle

Apart from the failures of the two openers to give good starts, it was also the failures of Rahane and Raina that resulted in the several failed chases on the tours of New Zealand and South Africa. Not to forget, Yuvraj Singh was dropped from the squad for exactly the same reason.

The problems of Raina and Yuvraj stretch back to the home series against Australia in conditions where almost everyone with a willow had a time of their batting lives. Assuming Pujara becomes a part of the eleven, the top four looks settled with Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli and Pujara. The problem for India is to find an ideal no.5 or 6, subject to where Dhoni bats.

Though Ravichandran Ashwin batted at no.6 in the 4th ODI against the Black Caps, it seems highly unlikely that it would be a long term solution. So, presently the options available are probably skewed towards Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Yuvraj, and probably Dinesh Karthik with an outside chance. Of the 5 available, Rayudu and Karthik look the more solid of the choices when compared to the two southpaws.

But with four out of the top five being right-handers, the presence of Yuvi and Raina could lend a proper balance in the line-up, which can come in pretty handy against an attack with a variety. Still, the biggest factor in favour of the left handers is the fact that both of them provide the team with an extra bowling option. However, on the basis of runs, which should be the primary factor distinguishing the contenders for the middle order slot, Yuvraj and Raina fall slightly behind on current form.

For the time being, the decision for the no.5/6 should be reserved and only be made after monitoring the performances of the mentioned contenders in the upcoming tournaments namely the Asia Cup, ICC World T20, Vijay Hazare trophy, and of course, the IPL.