IND vs SA 2022: 3 middle-order combinations India can experiment with 

Team India's opening combination has some clouds of doubt, but it's almost certain who'll start in the 2022 T20 World Cup. Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik have had a great IPL season as finishers, and the bowling picks itself too.

What's left in between is the spine of the batting - the middle order - which could be the difference between a semi-final berth and an early exit at the World Cup, as happened in the 2021 edition. India need batters with the power to take on long boundaries and are adept at playing on bouncy tracks that'll greet them in Australia.

The preparation for it starts on June 9 when they host South Africa for a five-match T20I series.

Below are three middle-order combinations that the home side can deploy in the series to test out the game-sense and abilities of its players.

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#Combination 1: Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik and Axar Patel could be the safest combination for India

This is most likely the order. Right-hander Shreyas Iyer and left-hander Rishabh Pant, both of whom can hit spin well, will come at three and four. Who comes first between the two will depend on who gets out first between the most likely openers - skipper KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan - and matchups against the opposition bowlers.

Their ideal role would be to find the sweet spot between all-out attack and anchor, thwart the opposition's tactics and set the platform for the finishers to exploit.

Hardik Pandya has proven time and again that he has the maturity to build a belligerent knock and so will be used at five. The Indian management is likely to assume some flexibility with his position, occasionally sending him at four or even three. In the absence of Ravindra Jadeja, left-arm spin all-rounder Axar Patel will play as the batting cushion who can provide four superbly frugal overs on his day.

This is a safe, economical, and reliable middle order. The only con is both Iyer and Pant's ability against short-pitch bowling, which was exploited in the IPL. If they can show some drastic improvement against the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, it could very well be a combination to consider for the World Cup.

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#Combination 2: Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Venkatesh Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik

It's a riskier combination but with better batting ability. Dinesh Karthik has revelled whenever his teams have asked him to be the last man to finish the job.

By bringing in Venkatesh Iyer in place of Axar Patel, India push Karthik more towards his favored role. Venkatesh will switch with Pandya like Iyer and Pant to maintain the left-right combination. The former has had his share of struggles against the bouncers too but brings in much better overall batting ability than Patel.

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder's medium pace and variations could be a gamble worth taking on the Australian pitches that won't support Patel's spin much, at least at the start of the tournament. This is also a combination where they can experiment with Knight Riders-style all-aggressive batting tactics.

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#Combination 3: Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik

It's an unlikely one, but India might use Deepak Hooda at No. 3. The spin all-rounder was superb in that position for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in IPL 2022 and is also good enough to bowl a couple of overs in every match. This puts Pant, Hardik and Karthik in their favored positions but pushes Shreyas a bit too deep.

However, once Suryakumar Yadav returns from injury, he's likely to be ahead of the Knight Riders' skipper in the Indian pecking order and will also be more suited to No. 4. Playing Shreyas in that position in this series would be the perfect test of his ability. Hooda is also a better player of the short ball than others in the list and thus could be the 'X-factor' that every team wants in a marquee tournament.

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