Time for India to look for raw talent in ODIs

Mayank Agarwal has recently been in good form with List A cricket

“With India lacking potency in the middle order, and Dhoni not certain to play 2019 World Cup, India needs to blood in raw talent during next one year.”

In the last one and half years, India’s performance in the limited overs cricket hasn’t been consistent. After a fantastic home series against Australia in 2013, they were completely out-played in South Africa and New Zealand before coming back strongly to win the one-day series against a shaky English side.

They also were winless in the tri-series before putting up a wonderful display in the World Cup where they went into the semi-final against the Aussies unbeaten. What does this attribute to? Has Dhoni not been able to get best out of each individual? Is he reluctant to change his way of methodology? Or, is it because of lack of proper players in domestic circuit?

Well, it’s not like we don’t have a pool of players in the domestic circuit. Players like Manish Pandey, KL Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Unmkut Chand and Karun Nair have been the consistent performers in domestic cricket, but they have not been encouraged by the selectors and the captain (except KL Rahul).

When you look at Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh, these guys had raw talent and had the capability to win matches single-handedly. Even when Dhoni was at his prime, he used to win matches for India single-handedly from tricky situations. In the same way, players like Manish Pandey, Unmkut Chand, and Mayank Agarwal have the skills to take the game away from the opposition on their own. What these players need is backing and faith from the selectors and team management.

These are the sort of players that India desperately need today, especially in limited overs cricket. What India lacks is the consistency and potency at the top of the order, and a proper number four batsman, who can play the sheet anchor’s role and play the role of a number 6. They can sort out the problem at the top by promoting Ajinkya Rahane to open the batting along with Rohit Sharma, but the important problem now lies with the middle order.

With Dhoni uncertain to play the 2019 World Cup, India needs to blood in some new players during the home series before overseas assignments. India can look at someone like Manish Pandey as a proper middle order batsman as he has the capability to be destructive towards the end of the innings, and at the same time, he has the ability to rotate the strike well.

India can also look for someone like Mayank Agarwal as a future opener as he can be destructive at the top of the order. He doesn’t have a first-class hundred but has performed well in List A matches with 1384 runs at an average of 51.25. He also had a good India A stint in the tri-series with Australia A and South Africa A, and therefore, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try him in future, perhaps during the home series against England in 2016.

It just gives the flexibility and variety of choices for the captain to choose from. The captain also does not need to worry about the bench strength when a player is out of form, and hence, it is important for India to have strong bench strength.

India have options from domestic circuit, but if you only give them a chance, they get exposed to international level, and it is hoped that this could be an ideal solution to make India a stronger team than before.