Three options for India's Middle Order

Trust Shreyas Iyer in the Middle Order

Modern middle-order batting in ODIs requires a special skill. A skilled middle-order batsman needs the technical ability to handle quality bowling. The role also requires a batsman with the power and timing to help finish innings when needed. Thankfully for India, they have the exact young batsman for that role in their squad.

Shreyas Iyer has been one of the best batsmen in first-class cricket over the past three seasons. That record (along with his performances for India A sides) show that he has the required technical ability to deal with quality bowling.

At the same time, Iyer is an adventurous batsman who bats extremely quickly with a strike-rate of more than 80 even in first-class cricket. This was evident in the past IPL season, where Iyer scored 411 runs at an excellent average of 37.36 and an impressive strike-rate of 132.58. This ability to accelerate will serve India well if they choose to trust the young batsman in the middle order.

In fact, Iyer has already shown his quality in ODI cricket, scoring two fifties in five innings. To trust a relatively inexperienced player like Iyer one year before a World Cup may seem like a controversial move, but it was the very same move that India made in 2010. The young batsman on that occasion? Virat Kohli.