World Cup 2019: Three concerns that still remain for India 

India, pitted to be one of the pre-tournament favorites, have lived up to their reputation in the World Cup. The Men in Blue have had a dominant run so far, having made it to the semi-final stage with a game to spare. Having won 6 out of its 8 matches, with a no-result and a solitary loss, the team is comfortably placed at the second spot in the points table.

This has been possible on account of an all-round effort by India, ticking most of the boxes. While Rohit Sharma has raced to the top run-getter's spot, registering 4 hundreds, captain Virat Kohli hit five consecutive half centuries to anchor the innings in the middle overs. In the bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami have delivered the goods on every occasion, while Hardik Pandya has been the x-factor with the bat as well as the ball.

Given these outstanding credentials, some concerns still remain to be addressed in the World Cup campaign of the subcontinental giants. The team would be wanting to solve these issues in the last league game against Sri Lanka, ahead of their semi final clash.

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#3 The sixth bowler

The sixth bowler is essential for India to support the main bowlers

The bowlers have essayed majority of the wins for India in this tournament, including a nerve-racking effort to defend a paltry 225 against Afghanistan. The fast bowlers as well as the spinners have shown great temperament and control even in the toughest circumstances

However, one thing that has been lacking in this department is the presence of a sixth bowler. Virat Kohli has been reluctant to use a sixth bowler, even when the full time bowlers were under attack. On the contrary, teams such as Australia and New Zealand have even resorted to using eight bowlers in such situations, with skippers Aaron Finch and Kane Williamson respectively rolling their arms, and also tasting success.

This was one thing that cost India dearly in the game against England, and even after the presence of Kedar Jadhav, he was not handed the ball. His sacking in the favour of Dinesh Karthik leaves India with only five bowlers, without any contingency plan should a bowler have a bad day.

#2 Failure of batsmen other than Rohit Sharma to convert starts

Rohit Sharma has been single-handedly winning games for India in the batting department

Although Rohit Sharma tops the batting charts with 544 runs, a team performance has been found wanting, in this department, excepting the game against Australia. Out of the 5 individual centuries that have been scored by the Indian batsmen in this tournament, 4 have come from the bat of Rohit and the fifth from Shikhar Dhawan, who has been ruled out due to injury.

Another performer has been Virat Kohli, with 408 runs in 7 matches. The team, which has been heavily dependent on the top 3, Rohit, Dhawan and Kohli, is now over-reliant on the skipper and his deputy.

While Kohli has scored five consecutive half-centuries, he is yet to score a hundred in this tournament. KL Rahul has had a few good starts, but has failed to score big. The No. 4 conundrum continues to persist, with no one being able to make the position his own, let alone scoring big.

This factor hampered the Indian chase against England after the departure of Rohit, and also applied brakes on the score board post his departures in the games against Bangladesh and West Indies.

#1 The finishing fiasco

MS Dhoni has been left waging a lone war in the death overs

The middle-order muddle has been a major problem for team India since quite some time now. With the team being brimmed with wicketkeepers and all-rounders, there has been a lack of quintessential batsmen in the team.

India has been underwhelming in the last ten overs in most of the games, after being in the driver's seat in the middle overs. Hardik Pandya's promotion after flourishing start leaves little support for MS Dhoni towards the death overs. Further, there has been a sudden collapse in the overs 36-40, with the set batsmen departing, which has forced Dhoni to adopt a cautious approach. Due to this, India has not been able to get the ace up their sleeve in the slog overs and exert more pressure on the opposition with an indomitable score.

India made an attempt to address this aspect with the addition of Dinesh Karthik into the squad against Bangladesh. Although, he could not score well in his debut World Cup game, it would be prudent for the team to back him and Dhoni to give a boost to the innings towards the end.