World Cup 2019: Analysing the weaknesses of Indian batsmen

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is here and brings with it a lot of expectations as the ten teams in the fray will be looking to put their best foot forward in the race for the title.

The Indian team, in particular, boasts of one of the best batting lineups in the world with the likes of Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni bound to add wealth to the team. Led by Virat Kohli, the 'Men in Blue' are one of the favorites to win this edition of World Cup, and with a batting lineup as dangerous as the current one, another World Cup trophy is truly up for grabs for the Men in Blue.

With the Indian team set to play a set of intense matches in their path to claiming a third World Cup title, here are a few shortcomings of the Indian batsmen.

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Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma will need to be on top of his game in this World Cup

Rohit Sharma is arguably the best opening batsman to enter this World Cup and the fact that he has scored a ton of runs post the previous World Cup speaks volumes of his might. However, he is not perfect in his approach.

The biggest problem Rohit Sharma has is his inability to play left-arm seamers who swing the ball back in. With the likes of Boult and Starc coming against him, he could find it hard to counter the lateral movement if the pitch assists the seamers. The problem is that Rohit Sharma has a very traditional straight stance while facing the left arm swing bowlers, and with that stance he tries to push the ball every time it nibs back in, something he will need to correct.

Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan.

One of the most prolific Indian batsmen in ICC tournaments, Shikhar Dhawan can be banked to have a top show in the upcoming World Cup. However, his weakness is the exact opposite of that of Rohit Sharma, which is the ball pitched slightly short and moving away from his body. He throws his bat at the ball and gets caught out.

Another weakness of Dhawan is the pickup shot that he plays against the pacers when the delivery is full. Even though when he connects he gets a maximum, the front foot goes across just a tad too much and an inswinging delivery which is slightly fullish hits him in the pads and he returns to the pavilion. His judgment of the length and his foot movement, which goes across, are the only problems here, as these are also one of his most favourite shots, the pickup shot in particular.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli

The best batsman in the world, Virat Kohli has already achieved unparalleled success and is miles ahead of his contemporaries. It's almost certain that Virat Kohli will score runs in every match he plays and whenever he gets a start, he makes sure he makes it count, highlighted by his average of 59.58 in ODI cricket.

However, Kohli has been found wanting against the wrist spinners, when the ball goes with the angle from the fifth or sixth stump. He tries to drive it through cover every time, and the ball comes crashing into the stumps.With at least one leg spinner in each team, Kohli will be targetted by the spinners.

And it is not only the spinners that will attack that 5th stump line. Seamers bowling slightly short of the length and the ball moving away from him has also troubled him a lot. Since he is a bottom hand dominated player, his instinct of pushing and punching from that length also gets him caught behind the stumps or the slip region.

MS Dhoni

Dhoni will hold the key in the middle order for India

The most experienced player for India in this World Cup, MSD has been in great form ever since the IPL began this year. He is hitting the ball as cleanly as ever and is finishing the matches for his team, the glimpses of which we saw in the warmup game against Bangladesh.

However, his weakness since the last few years has been one of his biggest strength in the past, that is rotating the strike in the middle. He consistently ends up taking a tad too long to settle and while he does make up for it with some big hitting, in the end, the problem arises when he gets out after settling in. The position he plays in, the more balls he eats up piles up the pressure on the other batsmen at the non-striker's end who end up throwing their wickets away in the process.

However, as seen in the warmup games and IPL, he is rotating the strike a lot better and has been hitting the odd boundaries right from the beginning. After all, he has one of the sharpest cricketing brains in the game and knows his game and the situation to perfection.

Kedhar Jadhav

Kedar Jadhav

Along with Hardik Pandya, Kedhar Jadhav has been a pretty solid allrounder for the team, and with his shoulder-length slow deliveries provides the team with crucial breakthroughs and a balanced lower order for the team.

However, his biggest weakness is that he is too injury prone and gets injured way too often for anybody's liking. He got injured last year in the IPL where he played only a handful of games, and this year also, just before the World Cup he got injured again.

Jadhav is a crucial component of India's batting line-up and if he does indeed keep fit all throughout the World Cup, he can be expected to make a big impact with his finishing skills.

Hardik Pandya

Pandya has been in some stunning striking form

The unfortunate controversy surrounding Pandya turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Hardik Pandya. Ever since the controversy, Pandya seems to be a completely different player. His clean striking and the follow-through has been a sight to behold.

He seems to be in a different zone altogether, looks much more determined and focused and it seems like he is here to prove a point. Batting with a lot of confidence, Pandya is striking the ball extremely well and will hold the key in the slog overs.

He is hitting the ball cleanly,playing out different situations pretty well, had a magnificent strike rate in the IPL, hitting the spinners and seamers with equal ease and most importantly, is finishing games for his team. He is an impact player, and isn't showing any weakness at the present as far his batting is concerned.

KL Rahul

KL Rahul's stylish batting will come to the fore

KL Rahul has all the shots in the world and apart from his stylish batting, also has the temperament to stitch together a big score, as exhibited with his much-needed century against Bangladesh in the warm-up.

His failure can be attributed to the fact that he is naturally an opener. His exploits in Australia suggest that he likes the ball that is hard and comes nicely onto the bat early on in his innings. But when the ball gets old and turns, he finds it hard to get settled. Another issue he has is that fact that he fetches the ball outside off too much when he is low on confidence.

There is no doubt that KL Rahul is a talented batsman and he has shown a great deal of maturity in IPL, but he opened the innings there. How he will handle the number four position is still to be seen.

Vijay Shankar

Vijay Shankar will have to make the most of his chances with the bat

Shankar has batted five innings in ODI cricket and four in T20Is and has been able to perform decently enough to book his berth for the World Cup. Labeled as a 'three-dimensional' player, Shankar will be itching to prove his worth, especially with the bat in hand.

However, his IPL exploits this year were worrying and wasn't striking the ball well right through the season. Though he has shown that he has a good pull and a jab to rely upon, it's his handling of the pressure situations that have to be tested.

Yet to be tested at the biggest stage in ODI cricket, Shankar's biggest challenge will be his ability to handle the pressure at such a huge level and with a poor show in the IPL and in the warm-up game, he will need to find form soon.

Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik has played some great cameos for Kolkata in the IPL and for team India, but nothing substantial ever since his return. Apart from his blitzkrieg in the final over of the Nidahas Trophy finals, he hasn't played any significant innings for team India.

Dinesh Karthik is predominantly a top-handed batsman, and not utilizing his bottom hand effectively has been one of his biggest weakness. Since he is a top-hand dominated player, quite often he hasn't been able to get enough elevation on the ball when the delivery is on the full and yorker length. As a result, he either gets caught out on multiple occasions.

For instance, in the final T20 against New Zealand where he denied the strike to Krunal Pandya in the final over, he was finding it difficult to get under the balls which were full and wide and will need to correct that aspect of his batting.