5 areas of concern for India heading into 2019 World Cup

In the world of cricket, India is indeed one of the best and talking about the 2019 Cricket World Cup, many would feel that they are the favourites. They are currently Number 2 in ICC ODI team ranking and are raging towards the best. The Men in Blue have been putting up great performances since the 2015 World Cup and have won 6 out of 7 bilateral series since the 2017 Champions Trophy loss itself. Recently, India outpowered every other team in the 2018 Asia Cup and exhibited to the world why they are the favourites for the World Cup.

Everything seems to be perfect for the Blue Squad but if we take a closer look, this is not how the things actually are. If we look at their performance in last two ODIs they played, they were struggling – one match in a tie and they managed to win the other off the last delivery and the reason was the failure of middle-order. In both the matches the Indian top-order collapsed early, putting the pressure on middle-order which they could not handle well.

This is one of the issues that rings the alarm for the Asian Champions -- there are many more things for India to work on before the 2019 World Cup. Let's look at the reasons why India needs to worry about the 2019 CWC:

#1 Overdependency on top-order

Indian top-order batsmen have been in tremendous form since the 2015 World Cup. The ICC ODI batsmen ranking proves the same as Indian top-order claim 3 of the top 5 positions. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are at no. 2 and 5 respectively while Captain Virat sits at the top. More than 60% runs are contributed by the top-order trio since the 2015 World Cup. This shows how dependent the team is on top-order.

Here is the individual performance of Indian top-order since 2015 World Cup:

#2 Flimsy middle-order

Indian middle-order struggles everytime

In the past few years, India have been searching for the perfect no. 4 and 5. Now that only a few months are left for the 2019 World Cup, the middle-order of the Indian team is still not fixed. The number of players tried at no.4 and 5 are a plenty – Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu and many more – but no one has proved that he is the right one for the spot as there has been no consistency in the performance. The most recent failure of the middle-order was in the 2018 Asia Cup. In the last two matches where the top-order collapsed early, Indian middle-order got exposed to the pressure which it failed to handle.

It is a big concern for the Men in Blue as they get prepared for the 2019 World Cup which will be starting in June next year. What's good for team India is that, before the World Cup, they will be playing two away bilateral series – one against Australia and the other with New Zealand. It will be their last chance to find the perfect and consistent two for the no. 4 and 5 positions.

#3 Lack of power hitting

MS Dhoni's strike rate has been continuously dipping

When we think of a power hitter in the Indian lower middle-order, there is only one name that comes to our minds - MS Dhoni. In his early days of career, MS Dhoni was known for his power-hitting ability and especially the Helicopter shot, but since the previous World Cup, there have only been a few instances of him trying the Helicopter shot.

Hardik Pandya is the new name in the power-hitting department but except for two or three outings, he has also not lived up to the expectations. So again the responsibility falls on Dhoni's shoulder, but if we look at his strike rate in the past few years it has been constantly dipping which is a trouble for the Blue squad.

Dhoni's Strike Rate

#4 All-rounder problem

Hardik Pandya is likely to go into the tournament as the team's premier all-rounder

Having a genuine consistent all-rounder on your side is a plus point in the present era of cricket. Consistency for an all-rounder doesn't mean to perform constantly with both bat and ball but to perform in at least one field on any given day – as that too is a valuable asset. With Hardik Pandya, it seemed like India's hunt for the all-rounder is over but his inconsistent performance with bat and ball has increased the confusion and tension for the captain and coach as well as for selectors.

Recently, he even suffered a back injury which made the way for Jadeja to come back in the ODI team after a wait of more than a year. Jadeja utilised the opportunity and proved his capability by his performance but the question is -- can he maintain it till the World Cup? We will get the answer very soon as India will be playing 5 ODIs against the West Indies starting from 21 October.

#5 Knock-out game pressure

Last year India participated in the Champions Trophy and throughout the tournament, they were performing significantly but in the final against Pakistan, they failed to handle the pressure and their batting line-up collapsed miserably in front of the ferocious Pakistani bowling attack. The same happened in the Nidahas Trophy where India struggled until the last ball to win the final against Bangladesh.

The most recent was the 2018 Asia Cup Final in which India was facing a much lower ranked Bangladesh. As happened in the CT and Nidahas Trophy, Indian top-order departed early while the middle-order failed to handle the pressure. It was Bhuvneshwar and Jadeja who rescued India and won the match on last delivery. This shows how India's performance changes with the change in the level of match.

The biggest tournament is yet to come for which India needs to work on all these issues if they want to win it.