Weak lower middle-order shackled MS Dhoni, says Virat Kohli

What’s the story?

Indian captain Virat Kohli believes that the emergence of Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya has strengthened the lower middle-order. As a consequence, he feels that the pressure on veteran batsman MS Dhoni has now reduced to a significant extent.

After arriving in England, Kohli said, “The one thing we needed to strengthen was our lower middle-order contribution. Too much burden was coming on MS (Dhoni) in the past couple of years, was what we felt. He wasn't able to express himself purely because of the fact there are not enough guys showing composure to finish off games with him. But having had Kedar (Jadhav) and Hardik (Pandya) do so well in that particular phase of the innings, that has strengthened our squad really well.”

He added, “So that's one area, we needed improvement on. And the series against England really sealed it for us. So we're in pretty good head space going into this tournament (Champions Trophy). I feel we're pretty balanced going forward. We've got depth in batting. We've got really good fast bowlers (too).”

The context

During the ODI series against England at the start of this year, Jadhav amassed 232 runs at an average of 77.33 and strike-rate of 144.09 including a career-best 120. On the other hand, Hardik Pandya added depth to the batting lineup with his explosiveness in the death overs.

The heart of the matter

Since the 2015 World Cup, India tried quite a few options to bolster the lower middle-order. As the experienced Suresh Raina struggled for form, the selectors gave opportunities to promising batsmen like Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav. With the latter carving a niche for himself in the team, the pressure on Dhoni to shoulder the burden has decreased considerably.

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The change was discernible as the wicket-keeper batsman batted without inhibition in the series against England and scored a century after four years in the second ODI at Cuttack. Showcasing his vast array of shots, he was able to dominate the bowlers relentlessly during that particular game.

What’s next?

Before they begin their title defence in the Champions Trophy, India have a couple of warm-up matches scheduled against New Zealand and Bangladesh at The Oval on the 28^th and 30^th respectively. Kohli’s troops will kick start their campaign with an eagerly awaited clash against arch-rivals Pakistan at Edgbaston on June 4^th.

Author’s take

With the likes of Jadhav and Pandya bolstering the batting lineup, Dhoni should back himself to play his natural game at various stages of the innings. Considering the recent trend of ODIs in England, pitches are expected to be flat and India need their lower middle-order to fire on all cylinders to keep registering formidable totals.