India vs Zimbabwe 2016 - Five possible gains for the Indian team

#3 A finisher:

Rohit, Shikhar, Virat, Ajinkya, MSD – This is what India’s top 5 is in ODIs. At no. 7, usually, it is Ravindra Jadeja, so who’s at 6?

Suresh Raina lost his place in the ODI side on the tour to Australia and hasn’t been picked for this tour either, which means currently he seems to have lost the faith of the selectors as far as his role in one-day games is concerned.

And as for Yuvraj, as sad as it is for fans, it seems like it’s the end of the road for him as a limited overs international cricketer as the selectors have chosen to ignore him for this tour despite a decent showing in the IPL.

This opens an opportunity for quite a few middle order players to try and fit into the role of a finisher for the side. This squad has Manish Pandey, Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Jadhav who’d like a chance to audition for the same.

Many might argue how Rayudu, with an average of above 45 at a strike rate of 78 after 31 ODI games still isn’t a regular member of the team, and they’re aren’t wrong in their assessment. In fact, when India toured Zimbabwe last year, he was the man of the series in the ODIs.

Manish Pandey must be itching to get another chance to further improve his credentials for the role after his breathtaking knock against Australia in the last one-day that won team India the match and avoided a whitewash.

Kedar Jadhav’s is a curious case. He averages above 48 in ODIs at a strike rate of above 106 (although it’s a small sample set; just 4 matches), and in his last game for India almost a year ago, he scored a match-winning hundred against Zimbabwe, in Zimbabwe, and was named the man of the match.

The front-runner: Manish Pandey – On current form and as he has age on his side.