Opinion: Should India rest its top three players for the final matches of the ODI Series against Windies?

The current Indian team is playing like the Aussie team of the late 2000's, most definitely at home, where they have won pretty much everything over the last three years. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, in particular, are setting new records, every day, irrespective of the opposition, conditions or whether the team is batting first or second. Shikar Dhawan too has been in good touch particularly in the ODI Cricket, often getting the team off to rousing starts.

This is very comparable to the yester-year Australians when Hayden, Gilchrist and Ponting used to score the crux of the runs, all the time. This resulted in them winning two major world cups 2003 and 2007. The 1999 World Cup was won too, but that team had a different combination.

There is nothing wrong with this trend actually, as the onus is on your top order to fire most of the time and if they are doing it on a regular basis, then it shows that the team is in good health- which invariably translates into the team winning.

Now the big question - Remember the Champions Trophy 2017 final? Rohit, Shikar and Virat got out cheaply in the chase against Pakistan, and the middle order crumbled under pressure. The top 3 were scoring consistently earlier and one had off day, and the team lost. This begs the question- whether the middle order is getting enough of a hit out in the middle?

Why not rest Virat, Rohit and Dhawan in particular, for the remainder of the series? The team management could ask MS Dhoni and Prithvi Shaw to open and get Ajinkya Rahane at 3 as he has had a good last couple of ODI series. Rayudu at 4. Pant at 5 and Pandey at 6, and the rest of the order as it is now. This will also allow Dhoni to play more freely, considering the fielding restrictions. If needed he can graft too.

If India want more options, they can try looking at Abhinav Mukund or Gautam Gambhir. Both of them have been the top run-getters in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy.

This will give the middle order much-needed match practice and also the current players a good rest before the Australia Series, starting next month. It is something which can be given due consideration, knowing that we have only 15 odd ODI's left for the World cup 2019.