5 Things India need to change about their ODI strategy

Strategies. They are funny. When they work, the captain and coach look like geniuses. When they don’t, the same set of people look like clowns. Darren ‘Boof’ Lehmann would have been mocked for his beer drinking, laidback, straight-talk, non-managerial attitude had he not turned Australia around so drastically.England almost opened a new page or rather an entirely new book defeating World Cup finalists New Zealand, at their own brand of cricket – fast, entertaining, fearless and aggressive.India is No.2 in the ranking system and so there is no need really to press the panic button with one series loss to a really sound Bangladesh team playing at home. India’s away win in England and their performance in the World Cup show that the team has an all-condition attack.Yet, there are some strategies that could be tinkered with, some new attitudes adopted to keep up in the fast changing world of cricket. With ICC adopting a new set of rules that will help bowlers more than the batsmen, India might stand to benefit, given its batsmen are a lot more world-class than its bowlers.

#1 Five Bowlers

Axar Patel bowls during a 2015 World Cup training session

Virat Kohli has insisted he will play with five bowlers in Test matches. There is no reason why India shouldn’t adopt the same in ODI cricket. Ravindra Jadeja at No.7 just doesn’t cut it anymore and his exclusion from the squad to tour Zimbabwe is an indicator of things to come.

Ravichandran Ashwin is an excellent bet for No.7 any day, which allows India to either field Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma or Axar Patel as a second spinner. Given how at least one of the Indian pacers playing the game almost always misfires, it is not such a bad idea to have three of them playing.

Five bowlers suggests an attacking mindset and almost always gives the team an extra chance to get wickets.

#2 Rotation of fast bowlers

Ishwar Pandey

India doesn’t have too many fast bowlers to write home about. But, the ones that exist often lose their form or motivation by the time they make it to the ODI squads. The consistency in selection is often missing.

If Harbhajan Singh could be picked as an extra off-spinner for Test matches based on his performance in IPL, and yet excluded from the ODI squad, bizarre as it may seem, there is not a lot of justification for keeping someone like Sandeep Sharma or Ishwar Pandey out of the squad ahead of bowlers like Varun Aaron and Ishant Sharma, especially on the back of the last few successful IPL seasons.

A rotating bench of fast bowlers helps in two ways – gives a good idea about who can deliver at the top level and who cannot instead of one long rope for someone and no scope for another; secondly, keeps everyone on their toes. MS Dhoni was right when he almost took a jab at Umesh Yadav, saying there is no point picking tearaway fast bowlers if they are ridiculously inconsistent in their line and length.

Bangladesh showed that even on slow, low pitches, good pacers can win you games. It is about time, India make a habit of playing with three seam bowlers, with probably one of them a bowling all-rounder, who can make the team on bowling strength alone.

#3 Having a fixed No.5

MS Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane during the 2015 World Cup semi-final

It is baffling to see that the long rope in the Indian team doesn’t extend equally to everyone. For example, Ajinkya Rahane who looked in sublime touch in the lone Test where he played selflessly for India’s cause, was dropped after his failure in the first ODI. Ambati Rayudu is a good player too, who has grabbed his chances well.

Rahane did play all of India’s games at the World Cup but elicited the feeling that he could get stuck without scoring at times. Whatever is the reason, things have never really stabilized in the Indian middle order in the last two to three years.

Dhoni is reshuffling things now by pushing himself to No.4 with Suresh Raina playing the finisher at No.6. It would be nice to see that batting order remain stable for a while at least, with the new No.5, probably Rayudu who played a crucial knock in the third ODI against Bangladesh, given a longer run.

Rayudu has the big shots as well as the tightness of technique. What he lacks in is temperament and it remains to be seen if he could do with himself what Rohit Sharma did after being sent up the order, one of the best masterstrokes from Dhoni.

However, players like Murali Vijay and Robin Uthappa will always push for the slot and so will younger players coming up from A tours, ensuring there are always options.

#4 An eye on the India A tours

Youngsters like Baba Aparajith can blossom under the tutelage of Rahul Dravid

Under Rahul Dravid, the India A team playing a triangular tournament against A Teams from South Africa and Australia, is a place to keep an eye on. It is strange that Cheteshwar Pujara, who seemingly doesn’t figure in India’s long-term ODI plans is captaining the side. It is a serious anomaly that lacks logic given the matches will be played in the subcontinent.

Yet, that squad has some exciting young players who should be given the chance to perform and be promoted to greater limelight. Baba Aparajith, Shreyas Iyer and Karun Nair are three names that stand out.

It is sad that Sanju Samson has fallen out of favour, yet again, given that he still seems like the only viable long-term replacement for Dhoni in the shorter formats of the game. Whoever performs well, should be awarded a playing opportunity at the earliest chance, instead of warming the benches for more than a year like Rahane or Dhawal Kulkarni had to do.

#5 Searching for big hitters

India’s Deepak Hooda goes for a big hit in the U-19 World Cup in 2014

Much as India is known for its batting, it is strange that India doesn’t have too many big-hitters, once Virender Sehwag left the scene. He is sorely missed. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan form a solid pair at the top, but if one of them fails, India slows down drastically.

India doesn’t have a Glenn Maxwell, Jos Buttler or Brendon McCullum and there is no reason why India cannot develop one with so many young players who love their shots. In the longer run, ODI success will depend on an intimidating finisher who can strike big on his day.