Missing ingredients: The one thing that can turn international teams into world-class limited overs outfits

Cricket is a team game. True, there are many individuals brilliances that have resulted in wins, but those one or two match-winners cannot be expected to deliver every time. All 11 players should contribute towards the team’s cause. There will always be scope for improvement and no team can afford to leave any weak links for the opposition to pin them down. The top 5 ODI teams are taken into consideration as per the latest ICC Rankings (updated on 6th September) and their concerned areas are highlighted.

#1 India - Death bowling

The countryis undoubtedly gifted with a wide range of fascinating batsmen who can take the game away from the opposition in a matter of few overs. Indiaalso have a great tradition of spinners bamboozling the opposition with their craft. But, still, even after all these years of top level cricket and despite being the winners of the ICC World Cup twice, India lack pacers to keep the run flow under check in the death overs.

With no threatening pace and relying on swing with the new ball, the gentle medium pace bowlers of Indiapose no real threat in the slog overs. With the everlasting trend of Indian bowlers fading away after a good 3-4 international seasons is not helpful toenrich the knowledge of the seamers in those situations.

And considering the fact that MS Dhoni ishappy bowling Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja these days in the death overs when theopposition have no specialist batsmen at the crease is covering up the problem too easily.

Mohit Sharma has a good slower ball and Umesh Yadav has a decent yorker. Bhuvneshwar Kumar can be trusted if he manages to deliverthe ball in places he intends to do so every time.Mohammad Shami is growing withconfidence after every match and has some genuine pace to add to his yorker which is still a work on progress.

The fact that all these bowlers are relatively young offers some hope for the future and India have to manage them well .They should also be trusted at the death and India should refrain from bowling spinners in closing stagesto help their confidence and add to their experience.

#2 South Africa - Consistent spinner

The Proteansidehas all basescovered in every aspect of the game but for world-class quality in spin. From solid openers in Hashim Amla and the upcomingsensation Quinton de Kock to classical finishers in David Miller and JP Duminy, the team also hastwo complete batsmen in Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers.

Despite not being able to find someone to permanently replaceJacques Kallis, the consistency of the top order gives reliability in batting. The fast bowling line-up is one of the best in the world led by Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

On flat wickets when the ever-dependable Steyn and co have an off-day, the side lacks penetrating spinners to rise to the occasion. Imran Tahir is doing his best and has a goodLOI record, buthe struggles big time against better players of spin in crunch situations. Aaron Phangisois thenext best bet and is already 30 with the 35-year-old Tahir in front of him.

The rainbow nation has to groom penetrative spinners who can take charge ofthe middle overs and those whoshould be capable of standingup against counter attacks to win in all parts of the world.

#3 Sri Lanka - Reliable openers

Tillakaratne Dilshanstilldoes not guaranteesuccessas an opener,despitewith nearly 300 ODI caps.He is next only toMahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara in terms of runs and experience of the current lot and hencea permanentfigure in the scheme of things. With a decent option at one end, the island nation is constantly fielding different set of openers for almost every series.

Kusal Perera, Upul Tharanga and Lahiru Thirimanne have partnered Dilshan on various occasions since last year, thus, no stable combination at the top. With the senior pair of Sangakkara-Jayawardene in the twilight of their careers, it is high time that the Sri Lankans seriously take proactive measures to solve their batting worries.

With no trusted match winners amongthe young players, the consistencyof Angelo Mathewsassures some hope for their fans. The frequent chopping and changing of the bowling all-rounder slot is also a worrying sign indeed.

#4 Australia - Middle order

Gone are the days when Australia possessed a significant threat in the middle-order that would unsettlethe opposition. With the so called next generation greatGlenn Maxwellstill learning innings building techniques and George Baileys inconsistent run lately, Australia all of a sudden look less dominant.

WithMitchell Marsh being a promisingnewcomer,there is a huge scope for improvement against quality bowling attacks. True, Marsh looked at ease against the likes of Dale Steyn, butpredicting him to be a world beater with just one or two good innings is not acceptable.Michael Clarkes frequent disappearance from the line-up citing back problems do no good to the team combination either.

Steven Smith with all his class is not a regular in the side. The former world champions will have to carefully handle thenext generationof players to stand a chance in future.

#5 England - Batting against spin

No special introduction needed to Englandsperennial problemagainst the turning ball. Almost every batsman plays spin as if it is an unknown art andeven the most experienced players in the team get desperate atthe creaseon witnessing a hintof purchase for the spinners off the surface.

From constantly relying on sweeps and reverse sweeps, the Englishmen lack adaptive feet movements to counterspin. India isthe latest teamto exploit the same in the recently concluded ODI series. England struggled to rotate the strike and even lost wickets against part-time spinners like Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu.

With almost every batsmen heavily reliant onunorthodox ways against spin, the technical side of batsmanship surprisingly takes a hit.It is rather intriguing as it was for the same reason England are hesitant to include batsmen of modern (aggressive)methodswhich is the other issue that needs to addressed.Even a less threatening spinner, all of a sudden turns into a wicket-taking option for the opposition against the struggling English side. And, they do not look solid against pace neither.

They should be making conscious efforts towards rectifying their issues against spin, if not,Englands problems in the shorter formats will not be ending anytime in the near future.