World Cup 2019: 2 big concerns for India ahead of the West Indies game

India escaped a big upset on the 22nd of June, against Afghanistan, as they won by just a margin of 11 runs. Afghanistan showed some good intent and threatened to take the match away till the last couple of overs. The Indian bowling, however, stuck to their guns and ensured victory for their team.

Virat Kohli used only five bowlers, despite having Kedar Jadhav and Vijay Shankar, and these five did their job exceedingly well.

However, as good as the bowlers were, the batsmen were equally disappointing. There was absolutely no one in the batting line-up, except for captain Kohli, who threatened the Afghanistan bowlers. As a result, India posted its lowest total of this World Cup.

With just 224 runs on the board, it was never going to be easy. Also, if at all India faced a situation as they did against Pakistan, where one of their strike bowlers walked off the field with an injury, it would have been game over for the men in blue.

Now, before India go from Southampton to Manchester to play the West Indies, there are problems to be resolved. Let's have a look at two of the biggest concerns for Kohli's men.

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The No. 4 problem raises its head again

The no.4 spot is wide open once again

For the first couple of games, India had found its perfect solution for the all-important No. 4 spot in KL Rahul. However, in the second game, Shikhar Dhawan got injured and Rahul replaced him at the top. This gave Vijay Shankar, the original choice at No. 4, a place in the XI.

But Shankar has looked very rusty with his batting. In his two innings, he has not done enough to justify his inclusion. This opens up the No. 4 slot again. Who will it be? Will it be Dinesh Karthik? Will MS Dhoni be promoted so that Shankar can play at 5? Will Rishabh Pant make it into the XI? Will Hardik Pandya be promoted like he was in a couple of games? Will Jadhav be promoted?

There are many possibilities here. This is a real headache for Kohli and coach Shashtri, and they will have to choose right option so that India have all the bases covered.

Dhoni's strike-rate

After a century in the warm-up game, Dhoni has been in average batting form

Dhoni played 52 balls in the Afghanistan game while scoring just 28 runs. His innings included only three boundaries. However, what was more disappointing was that just when Dhoni was expected to lift his strike-rate and get going, he threw his wicket away against Rashid Khan.

Jadhav at the other end was not striking well either. They were both playing with a run-rate of a little over 3.5, which was too less for the slog overs.

Had Dhoni been at the crease a little longer, he could have changed gears and India could have reached somewhere beyond 250. But that was not to be, and that innings of Dhoni has definitely raised questions.

This issue cannot be addressed by a team. It is only in Dhoni's hands to show the critics what he has got. He will have to raise his strike-rate significantly when he comes in to bat in the next match.

Overall, the major flaws in the Indian team lie in their batting. If India are successful in addressing these two concerns, they could put the rest of the journey on auto-pilot mode and enjoy their trip into the semi-finals.

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