World Cup 2019: Shikhar Dhawan’s absence affects India’s top and middle order

Pat Cummins to Shikhar Dhawan, no run, hits him on the left hand! A back of the length delivery which rises quickly. Dhawan tries to pull, but the ball hurries onto him. A real skidder

Shikhar was late on the shot and ball stuck his left hand. India’s physio brought out the magic spray and all seemed well as Dhawan went on to get his 17th ODI ton. Dhawan scored a 109-ball 117 to power India to 352/5 against Australia at The Oval but didn’t take the field as a precautionary measure. He was later on ruled out of the World Cup with Rishabh Pant named as his replacement.

Not many would have imagined that an innocuous looking delivery from Pat Cummins would affect India’s World Cup fortunes so much.

Rahul was given the opportunity of opening the innings for India in place of Dhawan. He did a commendable job of seeing off the new ball threat of Mohammed Amir in the match against Pakistan. But his batting in subsequent games against Afghanistan and West Indies has left a lot to ponder.

Rahul is a bit circumspect at the top and unlike Dhawan, he is afraid to play his shots in the powerplay. This creates a lot of pressure and puts the onus of getting the boundaries on his batting partner Rohit Sharma. Rohit, whose batting template over the past few years is seeing off the new ball with the minimum of risk and then going berserk in the middle and death overs, has had to modify his game. India’s famed top three is not that fearful anymore due to Dhawan’s absence.

Coming on to the middle order, which has been India’s Achilles heel over the past few years, hasn’t shown any signs of improvement. After trying a plethora of players at the number 4, India decided to go in with Rahul. Rahul did a good job in the warm-up games and the match against South Africa.

But just as he was looking to settle in his new role, the unfortunate injury to Dhawan meant he was shifted back to the top of the order. His replacement, Vijay Shankar, failed to get going against Pakistan and wasn’t able to rotate the strike effectively against Afghanistan and West Indies. Kedar Jadhav has seen his batting form dip massively. He did get a fifty against Afghanistan but his batting doesn’t evoke much confidence these days.

So what’s the solution to this perennial problem? India may look at bringing in a specialist batsman in the form of Dinesh Karthik or Rishabh Pant in the playing XI. One out of Shankar or Jadhav needs to be benched to add some steel to the batting order. Another option can be to make Pant open the innings in place of Rahul who slots back in at number 4. But Pant hasn’t opened for a while and it might be too bold a move to make at this stage of the tournament. Anyways, something has to give if India are to stop their batting slide. It is the only hindrance in their pursuit of a third World Cup title.

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