India vs South Africa 2018: 5 takeaways for India from the ODI series

Yet another lacklustre South African performance saw the Indians clinch their maiden ODI series victory in the Rainbow Nation. They went on to hammer the Proteas 5-1, showcasing the clear gulf in class between the two sides. For a team that had never won an ODI series in South Africa, this was quite a resounding performance, albeit against a weak side.

There were quite a few things that we learned about this Indian ODI side in the series, and here are a few of them.

#5 It's a long way back now for Ashwin and Jadeja

Chahal and Kuldeep had justified their selection ahead of their experienced counterparts with their performances in the sub-continent. However, their true test was to come when the team travelled overseas and the South African conditions were expected to pose them a stern test.

The wrist-spinners though were unfazed by the South African batting line-up and the conditions. The spin twins were literally unplayable at times and had the batsmen dancing to their tunes.

In tandem, they picked up 33 wickets, the most in a bilateral series. Only a monumental performance from skipper Kohli denied them a well-deserved Man of the Series award.

What this performance has also done is it has ensured that Ashwin and Jadeja will not be in the scheme of things anymore as far as limited overs cricket is concerned, unless the leggies suffer injuries or a serious loss of form.

#4 The Dhoni conundrum

How will the team management solve this riddle?

Despite his advancing years, Dhoni has remained the best wicket-keeper in world cricket, and the stumpings and run-outs that he effects continue to astound people. However, it is quite clear that his batting is on the wane. It's a well-known fact that he's not the same big-hitting batsman he was a few years ago and the bowlers have realized this and have chalked up plans to prevent him from scoring freely.

The best place for him to bat is in the first 30 overs, as he would get time to build his innings, but isn't it a risk if he ends up eating balls and then gets dismissed in an effort to accelerate?There are many games in which the second wicket falls beyond the first 30 overs as Rohit, Dhawan and Kohli control the innings and look to bat till the final overs. This leaves too few overs for Dhoni to get in and he invariably slows the innings down when it's time to get things moving.

Dhoni offers a lot without the bat though, with his keeping skills, leadership qualities and astute reading of the game. But are these enough to keep him in the side, when his contributions with the bat are decreasing by the series?

In all likelihood, the selectors will persist with him till the World Cup in 2019 and then see what needs to be done.

#3 India have an embarrassment of riches in the fast bowling department

The formidable four?

India have historically relied on one pacer and multiple spinners to bail them out in matches. The tide seems to be turning now as India possess arguably two of the best exponents of death bowling, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. They have finally found a decent seam-bowling all-rounder in Hardik Pandya. The back-up options include Shami, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur, who are good enough to get into most international teams themselves.

These bowlers also have the ability to hit the 140 kmph mark on a regular basis. If the pacers can stay injury-free, India'll have numerous options to rotate across the three formats.

#2 Questions still persist over the middle-order batting slots

Will they provide the solution? If not, who is next?

What this resounding performance by the Indian team shouldn't mask is the over-dependence on the top 3 batsmen. Agreed that the top 3 are supremely talented, but the middle order also needs to step up when necessary, and that was clearly missing this series. The bowlers ensured that the impact wasn't felt, but the middle-order batsmen surely need to pull up their socks.

Rahane played good knocks in the first and final games of the series but flattered to deceive in the knocks in between. Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, KL Rahul have not provided enough to inspire confidence and the selectors might start looking at other options.

There is no shortage of options with the U-19 World Cup and the IPL providing the selectors with numerous options, but with just a year to go until the World Cup, is it the right time to gamble on a youngster?

#1 The Kohli juggernaut just rolls on

This man just can't stop scoring

The cricketing world must surely be running out of superlatives to describe the performances of this man. He single-handedly snatched the Man of the Series trophy from the hands of the two young wrist-spinners with a record-breaking 558 runs in this series, at a scarcely believable average of 186 and a strike rate of almost 100. Coming into the series with no ODI 100s in South Africa, he scored 3 in 6 innings, taking his total count to 35. He's well and truly after Sachin's record of 49.

Captaincy is only spurring him on to greater heights, as evidenced by his numbers while leading the nation. It almost felt as if he were having an extended net session in the middle, as he was in complete control throughout this series. He has taken ODI batting to different heights, and he has left fans wondering what the landmarks that he will scale next are. Maybe an ODI double hundred to go with the 6 he has scored in Tests?