India tour of South Africa 2018: 4 areas of concern despite a successful ODI series victory

#2 The Middle Order

Building on from the previous slide, I think MS Dhoni in his current 'innings-building' avatar is the ideal no. 4.

His adopted style of play is perfect for the slot - he would get ample time to settle in, build and innings and launch in the later stages. The Indian Cricket Team management did experiment this idea on multiple occasions to good results - during the disastrous tour of Bangladesh in 2015 and recently against Sri Lanka.

This however means that Ajinkya Rahane is put back into a back-up opener role as he does not fit for a batting position of 5 or below. KL Rahul might be a good choice for 5, or Kedar Jadhav could be asked to step up. Rishabh Pant would be another option worth considering somewhere down the line.