India tour of South Africa 2018: 4 areas of concern despite a successful ODI series victory

Before we continue however, it is important to stress the context in this piece - this is not to ridicule the magnitude of the achievement. To win a bilateral ODI series in South Africa in such dominating fashion is historic and deserves all the accolades it brings with it.

However, with the 2019 World Cup a year away, it is important to not let victories conceal some issues that need addressing before it gets too late.

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#1 The Finisher

MS Dhoni is no longer the finisher he once was , and all who still believe otherwise are living in 2010.

Harsh, but it's true. Anyone who has been watching all ODI matches for a year or two can be testament to the fact that Dhoni's over-cautious approach and struggles at the start of his innings have often suctioned the momentum from an innings.

In fact, for the past 3 years his strike rate has hovered around 80. (80 in 2016, 84 in 2017, 81 in 2018) While this would've been acceptable in 2005, in modern times with teams like England playing a ruthless brand of ODI cricket this will not work.

In contrast, these are the strike rates of finishers in other top ODI teams:

David Miller with 137 in 2016, 99 in 2017, 81 in 2018

Glenn Maxwell with 121 in 2016, 113 in 2017, 87 in 2018

Marcus Stoinis with 100 in 2017, 111 in 2018

Jos Buttler with 129 in 2016, 102 in 2017, 109 in 2018

Anyway, you don't want to have someone who is aged 35, away from cricket for months and needs time to settle, to walk into the 45th over and expect him to hit sixes from the word go, do you? Yet for his abundant talent, experience and judgement Dhoni does still belong in the playing XI. The next slide shall explore the ideal position for MS Dhoni, however to wrap this conundrum up with a solution, I believe the finisher's mantle could be handed to Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav or even Rishabh Pant.

They would need time to adjust to the role however, and build the necessary set of skills in order to match the likes of Jos Buttler and David Miller.

#2 The Middle Order

Building on from the previous slide, I think MS Dhoni in his current 'innings-building' avatar is the ideal no. 4.

His adopted style of play is perfect for the slot - he would get ample time to settle in, build and innings and launch in the later stages. The Indian Cricket Team management did experiment this idea on multiple occasions to good results - during the disastrous tour of Bangladesh in 2015 and recently against Sri Lanka.

This however means that Ajinkya Rahane is put back into a back-up opener role as he does not fit for a batting position of 5 or below. KL Rahul might be a good choice for 5, or Kedar Jadhav could be asked to step up. Rishabh Pant would be another option worth considering somewhere down the line.

#3 The All-Rounder

There is a common saying in the cricket field today - 'Ben Stokes didn't become Ben Stokes overnight'

While pundits are still out to testify the legitimacy of that phrase, the honest truth is that Hardik Pandya is still not the answer to India's all-rounder requirement. However, he has improved in patches across tours but somehow it seems that Team India rates him too highly for his current skillset.

If Pandya is to fulfill the fifth bowler's role he needs to be able to bowl, whilst keeping the momentum and posing a threat to the best of batsmen in order to complement the tight opening spells of Bhuvneshwar Kumar & Jasprit Bumrah, and the chaos created by Kuldeep & Chahal.

Often he has been shielded with bowling overs to a new batsmen, being taken off the moment he gets attacked and brought back at the fall of the wicket or replaced with Kedar Jadhav. With the World Cup being held in England, India's need for a fast-bowling all-rounder is greater, and hence Jadhav might not be as effective.

Virat Kohli has called him a 'match winner' in every second conference even though he hasn't put in a match-winning performance to date - while I support the idea of supporting players and giving them confidence, Kohli is known for being vocal with his expectations of his players having offered suggestions to Cheteshwar Pujara for intent, Kedar Jadhav for running between the wickets and Sarfaraz Khan for fielding.

I do believe Hardik Pandya is the future, but (purely judging from interviews, on-field antics and progress in skills) it seems confidence and overconfidence stroll a fine line. Honest, open communication is the maxim that Kohli sets for locker room culture, so either they haven't really sat Pandya down to point out the disparity in his aggression against spin and pace bowling, a batting technique that still needs refining and bowling plans that aren't just 'bowl bouncers at 120-130 kph'

#4 Running Between The Wickets

The Indian top order needs to reach a consensus, and reach it fast.

Are cheeky singles more important than the wicket of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli? Too often, and Rohit Sharma in particular is guilty of causing most of them, one of the three is involved in a run-out.

While I'm a big fan of Kohli's ability to rotate the strike and steal singles, either the rest of the team needs to step up to his level or he would need to neutralise it slightly, as his eagerness has often affected his own dismissal as well.

In this situation I must point a certain contradiction - you would never find Kohli trying to chastise Yuvraj Singh or Chris Gayle to take a quick single or double. It seems that Kohli either trusts them to cover up or considers their wicket too valuable to lose to laggard running that the veterans are now prone to.

However, this value does not extend to Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane or Kedar Jadhav (since MS Dhoni is probably the only person who runs well with Kohli, probably because Kohli leaves the entire judgement to the senior) - which can prove disastrous as Team India's winning formula involves one of the top 3 batting through.

This is definitely an area to work on for the otherwise magnificent Indian trio.