3 reasons for India's good run in ODIs

India is currently the second-ranked team in ODIs after England and is one of the favorites to win the World Cup next year in England. India has played really good cricket in the ODIs and the only series they lost was against England this year by 2-1. Earlier, they won the series in South Africa by 5-1 and have been ruthless at home. The last ODI series which they lost in India was against South Africa in 2015-16. India won the Asia cup without their biggest player Virat Kohli. They also managed to reach the Champions Trophy 2017 finals but lost to Pakistan.

All in all, India has been performing really well and this success can be attributed to these 3 reasons majorly.

#1) Top Order

The Indian top order comprising of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan as openers and Virat Kohli at number 3 have been relentless. These three have been the major run scorers for India for the past few years. India's middle order hasn't contributed much and is a cause of worry for India, which they should resolve soon if they want to lift the world cup next year.

All three of them are currently in the top 10 ODI batsmen list with Virat and Rohit at number 1 and 2 respectively and Shikar at number 5. Virat was rested for Asia cup and in his absence, Rohit and Shikhar did the bulk scoring and were also the top 2 run scorers of the tournament. As a matter of fact, India struggled in all those matches wherein Rohit and Shikhar didn't click.

Ever since Rohit Sharma started opening for India, he has become a different player altogether. He has scored 17 centuries as an opener and has averaged more than 57. He has a knack for playing big innings and has 3 double centuries to his name which is a record in itself.

Shikhar Dhawan has not been as consistent as Rohit Sharma but he also averages close to 50 and has 15 centuries to his name.

Such has been the dominance of Rohit and Shikhar that an immensely talented player like KL Rahul is not able to make it to the selected squad.

With that being said, Virat Kohli is currently the best batsman in the world and is scoring runs in all the formats. He averages more than 58 in ODIs and in the last 6 years this number is more than 64.

India is very lucky to have these three at the top and will want that they continue performing the way they have.

#2 Seamers

Indian seamers pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvenshwar Kumar has been brilliant for the past few years and probably one of the best in the world currently. Both were among the wickets in the Asia Cup. They have the ability to pick early wickets hence disallowing the opposition to have a good start. They are then used in the death overs. Both Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar have great yorkers and consistently use them. Batsmen really find it difficult to get going against Bumrah with his uniqueness of using slowers ones to great precision. Bhuvi uses knuckle-balls as a variation and proves to be deadly.

The pair has been so far successful in squeezing the run flow in the death overs and hence denying the opposition to have great finishes. Though off late Bhuvi has not looked at his very best but he showed some glimpses of his old self in the Asia Cup 2018. Bhuvi has an economy of less than 5 and has picked 94 wickets in ODIs.

Bumrah has been brilliant find for India. He currently tops the bowler's list in ODIs. Bumrah in 41 matches has 72 wickets with an avg of 21.77 and economy of 4.54

#3) Spin Twins

The Indian spin twins Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are terrific with the bowl and have been brilliant for India for the past 2 years. Both of them have wicket taking abilities and have been India's strike bowlers in the middle overs. At times when the seamers are not able to pick early wickets, they have come in as first change bowlers and picked up crucial wickets.

Both of them regularly picked wickets and were among the highest wicket-takers in the Asia cup. Both of them have crossed the 50 wickets mark in ODIs and have an impressive average and strike rate. Chahal has picked 50 wickets in 31 matches at 24.92 and economy of 4.68 while Kuldeep has even better stats. He has picked 58 wickets in 29 matches at 20.10 and economy of 4.65.

They both are currently one of the best spinners pair in the world. Kuldeep is ranked 3rd in the ODI bowlers list while Chahal is at 11th.