Nidahas Trophy 2018: Five takeaways for India

Rohit Sharma's captaincy has been without much fuss.
Rohit Sharma has gone about his job without much fuss.

India have emerged the winners of the Nidahas Trophy 2018 after a nail-biting finish in the final against Bangladesh. We need to remember that India went into the tournament resting some of its regular players to give opportunities to potential backups leading up to the World Cup to be played in 2019 which is just a year away.

This not only gave a much required break to the regulars in the side like Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar but also gave Team India a chance to test out at their bench strength in the limited overs format to fill out some missing pieces of the puzzle for 2019.

We look at how India's bench strength has fared in the series:


#1 Rohit Sharma's captaincy

Having led the Mumbai Indians in the IPL with quite a bit of success, it seems Rohit Sharma has carried with him that experience onto the international level as well.

Even with the loss to Sri Lanka in the first match which gave a bit of a wake up call to the team, Sharma has been quite poised, calm and has led the side without much fuss. The Hitman will remain the first choice for the deputy's role and we could also be looking at a potential permanent captain in limited-overs fomat if Kohli wants to have some of the burden on his shoulders taken off after 2019.

#2 Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik in the middle order

Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik
Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik have looked a lot more secure in the middle order.

After the 79* run knock against South Africa at Centurion in the second T20I, Manish Pandey seems to have come to terms with batting in the middle order for the Indian team. Every passing knock, he seems more settled and more in control of his game to play the guiding role that is needed in the middle overs..

Dinesh Karthik who replaced MS Dhoni with the gloves and with the batting position in this series also looks to have carried ahead the form he has been in, in the domestic circuit. He has come out with some composed and brisk knocks in the last few matches for India. Both these batsmen carried India over the line against Sri Lanka when things were looking a little tricky after India had lost 4 wickets.

DK also played a blinder in the final to bring India back in the game and win it for the team with a last ball six. This is definitely a good sign for India as the team has been looking for someone solid in the middle order in the ODI teams and these two definitely seem capable of filling that gap.

#3 Rishabh Pant's place in the side

Rishab Pant
Rishabh Pant has not been able to impress with his performances.

Rishabh Pant has been looked at as a potential successor to MS Dhoni with the gloves behind the stumps and was rightly given an opportunity with the team on the back of some of his performances. But the wicket keeper batsman, playing just as a batsman in this series, has not had a strong enough impact in the batting order.

He very much struggled through with a 23(23) in the first match against Sri Lanka, followed by a single digit score in the next one against Bangladesh, when there wasn't any pressure in the chase. He needs to give himself more time when he comes in to bat which could also mean he needs more matches at the domestic level to attain more control over his batting approach.

#4 Vijay Shankar and Washington Sundar

Washington Sundar has been quite impressive with his skills.
Washington Sundar has been quite impressive with his skills.

Vijay Shankar, picked as the replacement to Hardik Pandya for the medium pacer all-rounder slot in the side has had a decent time in the series, even winning a Man of the Match award in one of the matches. Although his batting wasn't tested too much, his skills definitely looks to be quite a notch below Hardik Pandya. But the one who has stolen the limelight in this series has been Washington Sundar, the other all-rounder in the side.

With impressive figures of 2-28, 0-23, 2-21, 3-22 and 1-20 off his 4 overs each, the spinner has been economical and skillful to such an extent that he has even overshadowed Chahal on a few occasions, also winning the Player of the Series for his consistent performances.

With his ability to bowl economically during the powerplay overs and being able to exert pressure on the batsman to pick up wickets, we might very well see him picked up as a first choice spinner in the T20s and maybe even a backup choice in the ODIs, having seen how expensive someone like Chahal can be some times.

#5 Pace battery

Shardul Thakur
The fast bowling bench strength has a lot to improve.

The fast bowlers have had a pretty ordinary series. Jaydev Undakat and Mohammed Siraj have not been able to match the expectations while Shardul Thakur has had a few good moments and quite a few bad ones.

While Thakur did pick up a Player of the Match for picking up 4 wickets in one of the matches, he did go for 27 runs in one of his overs against Sri Lanka and 19 runs in a single over against Bangladesh in another match. He wasn't impressive in the final either.

Unadkat has had an ordinary series as well, against expectations of him being touted as a possible T20 specialist bowler. His only bright spot in the series was the last over of his spell in the final.

Siraj was quite disappointing in his only outing with figures of 1-50 in his 4 overs. The fast bowling bench strength for ODis seems a little bit lacking if these performances are anything to go by.

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Edited by Amar Anand