Opinion: Captain Kohli should find a way to give opportunity to India’s middle order batting contenders for the World Cup squad

A slightly cynical, yet true, post-match assessment of India’s utter domination of the West Indies in the first match of the bilateral ODI series would also take into account that India learnt nothing new from this match, especially on the batting front.

It was the same old story of the top three Indian batsmen carrying the team through. One of them failed this time, but the other two saw the team through in what could have been a tricky chase.

The middle order was not needed to do anything towards securing the victory. By the time Virat Kohli was dismissed, the match was practically over and Ambati Rayudu was under no pressure of scoring fast, with the centurion Rohit Sharma scoring the bulk of whatever remaining runs were required.

Rishabh Pant, a possible contender for India’s World Cup squad, did not get to face a single ball in his debut match.

Lack of batting opportunity for a struggling MS Dhoni, thanks to the domination of India's top 3, could come back to haunt the team in the World Cup

But the knee-jerk reaction to this should not be to rest Kohli and possibly one or two of the opening batsmen after the second or third ODI. Kohli should play all the five matches, even if India goes on to win the series with two matches remaining, which is a clear possibility.

Assuming India wins the first 3 matches and seal the series in Pune, he should still be there for the last two matches in Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram. But he should consider dropping one of the two opening batsmen, especially the one who would have scored more runs around that time.

Rohit has already got a 150 in the first match, and if he scores another hundred or two, he should be rested for the last two matches. If Ambati Rayudu and Rishabh Pant are both in the reckoning for the middle order slot, then KL Rahul could be tried as the opening batsman in the last two matches in the absence of one of the regular openers.

Virat Kohli should play all the five ODIs. He could drop down the order to number 5 or even 6 to give batsmen like Rayudu, Pant and Dhoni enough time in the middle. But he should be there in the playing XI as captain so that he can oversee the process himself and not give someone else the reigns.

The last time he did so was in the Asia Cup. India’s successful campaign there under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy led to some speculation as to who the better captaincy material is – the incumbent Kohli or his Vice-Captain.

There may be some truth in Rohit possibly being a tactically better captain than Kohli, but at this moment when the World Cup is almost upon us, a whiff of insecurity on the part of Kohli would be unhelpful.

So, it is only prudent that in order to maximise the benefits from this ODI series against the Windies, Kohli should give a chance to India’s middle order to test itself, without dropping himself from the rest. He needs to be there on the field, more as a captain than a batsman, if that is what is required in India’s quest for a perfect squad for the 2019 World Cup.