South Africa vs India 6th ODI: 5 strategies that India can adopt to rotate their squad

Having sealed the series with a match to go by way of dominant performances throughout the series, the Indian team now has the luxury to chop and change the team around to give their bench some match time.

With the top order firing consistently in recent times, the middle order has been untested and as was evident with a few mini-collapses in the current series, the middle order stands a little exposed.

It is important that some of the contenders for the middle order spots get some much-needed game time in the middle to get into the thick of things. Let us look at some changes that the Indian team can make to test their bench strength.

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#1 Rest Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has led from the front in this series

The captain has had a long tour so far. With commendable performances in the test series and absolute dominance in the ODIs, Kohli has led from the front and led well. However, as consistent as his performances have been, there is a slowly creeping worry that the Indian batting has been becoming a little too dependent on Virat Kohli.

With a T20 Series still to be played, a one-match break would definitely give Kohli a much-needed rest. It will allow Rohit Sharma to captain a game and more importantly, would open up a spot in the middle order to bring in batsmen from the bench comprising of Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, and Dinesh Karthik to test them out and give them some time in the middle. But Kohli resting himself does seem quite unlikely.

#2 Rest Jasprit Bumrah

Bumrah is undoubtedly India's best bowler at the death

Similar to Kohli, Bumrah has also had a very long tour so far. He has featured in all the three test matches followed by all the ODIs. He has been consistent, economical and a wicket taker whenever the team has needed him to take wickets.

With the T20 series coming up, it won't be a bad idea to give Bumrah a break and bring in Mohammed Shami or Shardul Thakur in his place. Shami has had a good long break after the test series and he probably is our third pacer after Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah. But it won't be a bad idea to give Shardul Thakur a go, just to put him out on the field and see how he goes about his job.

With Jasprit Bumrah being the most reliable death bowler for India right now and Bhuvneshwar having been a little expensive and generally struggling to get wickets, it wouldn't hurt to see Shami or Shardul bowling a few of those death overs to keep the backups ready.

#3 Rest one of the spin twins

The spin duo has been the X-factor for the Indian team in the ODI series

The X-factor for the Indian team in their series win has definitely been the spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, who have been successful in spinning a web around the South Africans.

The Indian team should now look at bringing in Axar Patel in, leaving out one of the two wrist spinners. This will give Axar much-needed match time and also provide the team more options. The wrist spinners were taken to the cleaners in the fourth ODI which means they are definitely not invincible.

Having someone like Axar who is very effective in tying the batsmen down, it won't be a bad idea to test him out as an option. This could also provide us with a measure of his batting abilities should he get a turn with the bat in the lower middle order.

#4 Let MS Dhoni bat higher in the line-up

Dhoni can contribute much more to the Indian team with the bat

In the last three matches, India have had a bit of a collapse in the middle order and Dhoni has ended up batting only in the last few overs or just with the tail-enders trying to make sure the batting does not collapse completely.

With the management looking quite firm about Rahane in the middle order, they could try out Dhoni at No. 5, or at No. 4 and push Rahane to No. 3 (if Kohli is rested).

This will give both the batsmen much more time in the middle to try and build an innings and may also be able to answer a few questions that are cropping up about the middle order batting in recent times. It is no doubt that Dhoni's experience with the bat has gone pretty much underused.

#5 Win the toss and chase

The likes of Kedar Jadhav have not been tested yet under pressure

With a Kohli century in the first ODI and a low scoring game in the second ODI, India managed to win both the games that they chased, albeit quite easily. If Kohli does get rested, with a subjectively under-performing middle order, India should look to chase in the last ODI to try and test their chasing game.

Batting first has been easy because the Indians have been able to rely on the spin twins to put pressure on the South African side in their chase. Chasing a competitive score will really test the middle order and would give some of the batsmen like Manish Pandey or Kedar Jadhav a real opportunity to prove themselves and seal a spot in the middle order.