Does India have the best ODI batting line-up in the world?

The best batting line-up in the world?

The Indian cricket team has historically been a very batsman-oriented team. Yes, we have had our fair share of good bowlers – Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath, Harbhajan Singh and many more – but the focus has always been on the men who master the art of willow-wielding.

Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Rahul Dravid, M.S. Dhoni and so many more have made history time and again. India’s rise to the top of the ODI table has been made possible by a World Cup win, a Champion’s Trophy win and numerous bilateral and trilateral series wins. One common observation made during this period is that we haven’t had bowlers who consistently won matches for us. So based on this observation, one would have to ask – does India have the best batting order in the world?

To answer this question, I look at recent cricket records, i.e, post April 2011. The Indian team has gone through major changes since then. To prove this, I show you the batting order from the World Cup final and the final of the tri-series against Sri Lanka.

The WC final batting order-Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, M.S. Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina.

The batting order of the final of the tri-series-Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, M.S. Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja.

Out of the top seven, only three remain, and all the four that have left have had a major impact on the batting line up.

Somehow, India have managed to stay afloat. Actually, they’ve been doing rather well, in the ODI arena at least. Maintaining the number one rank isn’t easy, especially when they’ve been faring pretty badly in the longest format and not as good as they would want in the shortest. They’ve tried many different players over the last two years, and have finally struck a good combination. So good, in fact, that a player like Cheteshwar Pujara can’t find a place in the line-up.

With Rohit Sharma’s new sense of responsibility and want to play an innings that lasts longer than the advertisement break that follows his departure and the advent of the moustache-wielding Shikhar Dhawan, the opening pair looks settled. Then comes Kohli, current hothead, future captain, who isn’t as tremendous as he was when he initially burst on to the scene, but reliable nonetheless. Then there is the comeback man, Dinesh Karthik. The jury hasn’t given a verdict on him yet, but he seems to have been bitten the same bug of responsibility as Rohit Sharma.

With the top four positions somewhat stable, we move on to the next three. A characteristic feature of Indian batting has been a top order collapse followed by a middle order rescue, which means that numbers 5, 6 and 7 are pivotal.

Who better to kick things off than Suresh Raina? Raina is sort of touch and go. There’s very little middle ground when it comes to him. There is no doubt that he’s an amazing finisher, but in the face of a collapse he doesn’t really stick it out and play the long innings; which is why captain Dhoni has so much more responsibility.

Dhoni 3.0, as I like to call him, reinvented himself following the home loss to England, and went from Captain Cool to the leader against lethargy. Whether it is on the field on between the wickets, he’s become more energetic than ever. He can play the long innings or a quick onslaught and has been the saviour of our team more times than one can count. An interesting fact is that he has not missed a single home game following the World Cup till the Pakistan series.

Sir Ravindra Jadeja deserves a paragraph to himself not only because of the title he has, but also because of the dramatic turn-around he’s made in the last year or so. He’s gone from being the guy who you couldn’t depend on to get 35 of 40 for victory, to being the new Mr. Dependable – both with the bat and the ball. His little cameos towards the end of the innings came very handy in the Champions Trophy and went a long way towards securing the Cup. He could use a little practice playing a longer innings, possibly in the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe; but for now, let’s just appreciate how far he’s come.

So I’ve established that India is a batting powerhouse. But let us now to compare the line-up to other teams in the world.

Sri Lanka are a team going through transition with new captains replacing their contemporaries in a very short period. They are running out of the big names – only Sangakkara and Jayawardane remain – and they must come to terms with the fact that their careers are coming to an end.

Sangakkara and Jayawardene – at the twilight of their careers

Pakistan are sort of the opposite of India. They are a bowling powerhouse who have had their fair share of good batsmen.

England and South Africa provide stiff competition to India. Both teams have their big names. For England, you have Cook, Bell, Trott, Prior, Pieterson and Morgan. SA have Smith, Kallis, De Villiers, Amla and Pieterson. Both line-ups put fear into the opposition, but neither did too well in the Champions Trophy (of course, SA can just blame it on the tradition of choking at the big stage; after all, traditions are meant to be followed).

Australia look like they should be renamed ‘Clarke and a bunch of other guys’; and given that Clarke has been M.I.A. because of his back, they really need someone to step up to the mantle.

The mighty Caribbean warlords are everyone’s favourite underdogs. They have Gayle, Bravo, Sammy and many more who are more than capable of turning a match on their day, but that’s the problem. They can only do it on their day.

So, having established that India sticks to the tradition of relying on their batting and that they are at the top of the table because of the same reason, one must say that India does indeed have the best batting line-up in the world.