3 Big questions for the Indian team heading into the 2019 World Cup

The ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019 is just a few months away from now. All the teams have started gearing up for the mega-event by trying different players to figure out what suits best for them.

India has always performed in big tournaments. For a piece of stat, India has won 34 games and lost just 8 in ICC Tournaments since the beginning of the 2011 World Cup. Without an iota of doubt, they will head into the 2019 event as one of the favorites.

However, that does not mean they don't have any chinks in their armor. There are quite a few issues plaguing the current ODI setup of India. With 20-odd games still to go before their opening game at the World Cup, they would definitely like to find an answer to these 3 questions:

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#3 Who will be batting at No. 4?

The obvious one! This problem has tormented India right from the conclusion of the 2015 World Cup. Ajinkya Rahane got the first go at the spot, and to be fair to him, he improved as time went on as evident by his returns in the 2015 South Africa series at home and the beginning of the 2016 ODI series in Australia.

However, he got injured midway during that ODI series against Australia and from then on, no one has been able to cement his spot at number 4. Manish Pandey showed some promise, Yuvraj Singh came back into the team for a while, MS Dhoni too played a few innings at No. 4 and recently, KL Rahul got a chance in England.

The solidity of India's top 3 often has left the others to do very little, but its high time that the team finds a suitable No. 4. As evident by India's first game in the Asia Cup, Ambati Rayudu looks set to be the next one to get a chance at No. 4.

Rayudu can prove to be a very handy batsman at that position given his solidity, experience in the domestic arena and the IPL and ability to rotate the strike and counter-attack when needed.

Whatever might be the case, the team needs to find a suitable No. 4 as soon as possible and also give him an ample number of games to get accustomed to the role. Ambati Rayudu, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, as well as proven domestic and franchise-cricket performers, such as the likes of Rishabh Pant, Suresh Raina, Krunal Pandya and Shubman Gill can be given a go in the near future.

#2 The batting position of MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni is a legend and he will be a legend forever; no matter how he performs in the World Cup. But, it is a well-known fact that he is not the same finisher that he was a few years ago, and that has come to haunt him and the Indian team quite a few times in the past 2-3 years.

This will most probably be the last World Cup for him and more than anyone else, Dhoni himself would want to go out on a high. Before the start of the 2016 home ODI series against New Zealand, Dhoni had expressed the desire to bat slightly up the order, probably at No. 4 in the last few years of his career.

He batted at 4 in that series, but with the return of Yuvraj Singh in the next series against England, he went back to No. 5 and since then, he comes out to bat at 5 or below. By coming in to bat lower down the order, more often than not, he has to attack from the word go, and that has affected his personal performances as well as the team's returns in the final overs.

Harsha Bhogle, in one of his columns, said that he would like Dhoni to play the role of 'the calm amidst the storm' instead of 'the storm' in the final few years of his career and for that, Dhoni has to bat at 4 or maximum at 5 so that he can keep the scoreboard ticking and provide support to big hitters like Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya.

Dhoni showed glimpses of his brutal best when he batted at 4 or 5 for CSK in this year's IPL. That was purely because he knew his role and job well. Now it is up to the team management to decide at what slot they believe Dhoni will be best-suited to. They need to clearly define his position and role in the batting order.

#1 Who are the backup seamers?

For the past year or so, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have formed a formidable bowling pair in ODIs for India. They have managed to pick up wickets upfront as well as in the death, and at the same time, they both are equally capable of containing runs at the death.

India missed their services badly in the ODI series in England and the likes of Umesh Yadav, Siddharth Kaul and Hardik Pandya leaked too many runs, which was the reason why Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav failed to take wickets in the middle overs, especially in the last 2 ODIs, because England had to do nothing but to see them off.

Given the World Cup is in England, they need to find at least 2 backup fast-bowling options who can come to their rescue in case any of Bhuvneshwar or Bumrah is going through a lean patch or is injured.

Umesh Yadav and Siddharth Kaul were too expensive in England, Shardul Thakur has been too inconsistent in his short career. The options seem to be limited as far as fast bowlers are concerned.

Khaleel Ahmed showed glimpses of his potential in the match against Hong Kong. With his left-arm angle, he can definitely provide a variety to the pace attack. But he needs to have an ample number of games under his belt before the World Cup. In such a marquee event, experience matters along with potential.

Even someone like Deepak Chahar can be given a chance after his exploits in the IPL. Also, the team can always fall back to the experience of the likes of Mohammad Shami, who is very good, especially at the death with his yorkers, and Ishant Sharma, who seems to be bowling as well as he has in his entire career, as evident by his performance in the recently concluded test series against England.

With the World Cup fast approaching, India soon needs to sort out a pool of 3-4 fast bowlers apart from Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah who can do the job for them, if needed.