India has to develop an unit where middle order is stronger than Top order

[vvvslaxman]

Enough of this RCB  style batting line up.  We need a strong middle and lower order.  These morons have to start bowling part time at some point to lend some hand to the main 5 bowlers. Same way bowlers have to start batting. If Kohli can't handle pressure at no.3 he better drops him down to no.5 in those situations. Yea.. insulting. But deal with it. That is what you get for 3 major failures in ICC tournament knockouts.  Middle order should comprise of batsmen who can make 100s, 150s. Not 30s, 40s, slow 50s.

[Khota]

I agree about the middle order. It has been ignored for a while. Lower order is as good as it can get.

[Arvind32]

They already have good players like Shubman Gill , Sarfraz Khan ,  Abishek Sharma, Pirag Patel , Sheras Iyer,  Mayank Agarwal  and some others too . But the problem is BCCI and team management which is  run like a family business where  players like Dhoni just play on the basis of friendship with captain, The talented player like Gill has given just 1 match to prove them .  This level of professional  attitude you will  not see in any country  , it is just sad that  Country with so much cricketing  talent has no brave people to say  the “what is wrong “. 

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

Top order scores so many runs that the middle order barely gets to bat. It's hard to know how good they are in the middle order unless some of the big names in the top order are rested. But when you do that too often, you also risk them losing form and that would be terrible.

[vijay50]

Things wont improve. From 2007 till 2016 when Dhoni was captain, he made sure he picked middle order players and openers who can rotate strike well ( less dot ball) like Yuvi and Raina. Dot ball kings like Sehwag, Ganguly, Dravid  who were unable to rotate strike quickly etc were let go after 35 years of age bluntly. Rohit was unable to rotate strike in middle order and hence was pushed to opening.

 

Now look at current middle order and openers ( Rahul): Dhoni, Pant, Pandya. Pant , Rahul and Pandya were only interested in hitting 4 s and not rotate strike well. Dhoni is a lot worse actually and must be dropped. Only Jadeja can rotate strike well. Because of this poor strike rotation only we were 60 Runs after 20 overs yesterday. We cannot win championships if we cant minimize dot balls.

 

On the other hand Look at champion player Smith. Aus were 14/3 similar to India.Smith started with strike rate of low 20s , took terrific singles, minimized dot balls and came into form with a 50 and  strike rate of 77.

Reducing dot balls is really critical to get out of rut and run into form. Yuvraj and Raina was able to do this so well along with old Dhoni.Yuvraj also tweeted about this yesterday. 

 

With all the new players in Indian team who are dot ball kings like Rahul, Pant, Pandya, I don’t see this team becoming champions unless this issue is changed.

 

Also left right combination of batters and bowlers are also important to throw bowlers off guard.Just my 2 cents.

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

19 minutes ago, Arvind32 said:

The talented player like Gill has given just 1 match to prove them . 

So you think they should've brought him into the team straight after the 2018 U19 World Cup and told players who've been toiling in domestic cricket to fúćk off?

[Arvind32]

The best player should play for the country mate , if the others had more talent than him by all means they should go ahead , but instead of young raw talent the India was grooming Ryudu , Kedar Yadav  and Dhoni like player which on the basis of merit they will struggle to get a place in Indian A team ( On their batting style ) . Just look what England has done by bringing Joffer Archer and even India in back old days when Yuvraj injected straight to Indian team after under 19 performance . By the way it was  1.5 years ago since then he had scored 10 centuries in first class cricket , India A level . 

[Sandeep99]

Agreed completely with the OP. 2023 should be something like this -

 

Mayank/Rituraj Gaekwad

Rohit/Shaw/someone to satisfy Bombay mafia

Shubman

Iyer/Kohli (if he's still playing at that time)

Parag/Sharma/someone young

Pant (k)

Hardik/Dube/someone who can bowl seam and bat

Jadeja/someone who can bowl spin and bowl

Saini/someone who can bowl fast and hit big

Bumrah

Kuldeep/Rahul Chahar

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

32 minutes ago, Arvind32 said:

Just look what England has done by bringing Joffer Archer and even India in back old days when Yuvraj injected straight to Indian team after under 19 performance .

Prithvi Shaw was handed Test debut 8 months after the U19 World Cup. Yuvraj debuted 9 months after the U19 World Cup.

[Arvind32]

I hope the will give more chances to young deserving players like a young winner team of T20 2007  not  go for  prime past players. 

[Scarface]

The batting template needs to change. The top 3 should start attacking at least 5-10 overs earlier and that will bring middle order into the game. English are doing this now with Roy and Bairstow who keep pummeling and leave the stage to Morgan, Stokes, Butler in the second half.
This way middle order gets to score valuable 70s/80s, understand how to build innings and get through tough spells.

[prudent_kreeda]

Easy solution , banish top 3  and bring in 3 new rookies .. 

Automatically Middle order will become stronger than top 3 ..   

[mishra]

I don’t believe in hype around our middle order. Wc is won by match winner with bat. How many match winner bats we have in playing 11.

Ans: 1+ Rohit and choker Kohli

How many England has. Atleast 6: Roy Butler Morgan Barstow Root Stokes 

 

 

[Adi BB]

We have been brave in the test arena and drafted young guns like pant,mayank,shaw even bumrah in quickly ,especially on tough SENA tours but complete opposite in the most dynamic formats I.e t20s and odis .

In t20s we are still playing old trash like dhoni ,its a disgrace really!

[Laaloo]

25 minutes ago, Adi BB said:

We have been brave in the test arena and drafted young guns like pant,mayank,shaw even bumrah in quickly ,especially on tough SENA tours but complete opposite in the most dynamic formats I.e t20s and odis .

In t20s we are still playing old trash like dhoni ,its a disgrace really!

Yup. Dhoni still playing t20s despite laying eggs for 10 years is mind boggling. 

[The Realist]

1 hour ago, Laaloo said:

Yup. Dhoni still playing t20s despite laying eggs for 10 years is mind boggling. 

If the Old Man starts the next Ind T20 game then MSK Prasad needs to be whipped, stripped & made to do the walk of shame.

[Prakat]

A strong middle order needs to replace the barebones crapfest we have on show right now. However what use is it to have one that is stronger than the Openers? All that will do is end up exposing the middle order early. What we need is a balanced unit with Openers capable of doing their job according to conditions and strategy discussed in team meeting, a One down with impeccable technique who can handle the new ball and a strong middle order that can consolidate, rotate strike and play well with the tail if it comes to that. We are all set in the first two departments. The remaining is the worrying part.

[Kerberos]

17 hours ago, TNAmarkFromIndia said:

So you think they should've brought him into the team straight after the 2018 U19 World Cup and told players who've been toiling in domestic cricket to fúćk off?

Mayank, Shankar and Pant anyway straight into the world cup.

[vijay50]

If Shreyas Iyer start bowling 4-5 overs of leg spin in List A cricket and pick wickets, he can be our perfect no.4 who will get an extended run to cement his place.

[Ajju]

Then send Dhoni to 2 nd position and Rohit to 6 th