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

#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.