India's current ODI team structure compared to 2011

[vvvslaxman]

2011-2025

 

Sehwag (could bowl)     Rohit

Tendulkar  (could bowl) Gill

Gambhir    Kohli

Kohli         Iyer

MSD         Kela

Yuvraj   (bowling too)   Axar

Raina     (could bowl) Pandya

Harbhajan singh   (can hit big) Kuldeep

Zaheer (decent bat)  Bumrah

Munaf   Siraj

Sreesanth  Rana

 

 

If you look at the team one the left

 

Raina coming in at no.7 had 3 ODI centuries already when he played this match, Yuvraj had 13 centuries, MSD  6 centuries, Kohli 5 centuries, Gambhir had 9 centuries , Sehwag had 14 centuries. Basically from 1 to 7 all had centuries. Look at the current side. Despite pressure batting skills Axar is never going to score a ODI 100. Neither will Washington Sundar or even Pandya. Bumrah, Kully, Pandya only 3 upgrades i must say.  Especially the one we played in Australia is lighter than this unit.  Only Axar can be accommodated in top 7. Every one else should be able to bat big if needed. Cannot have bits and peices players there.

 

 

  

[figo6762]

The game is completely different ..  and also the WC is in SA .. not sure you can  make this comparison this way .. 

 

The unfortunate thing is tactical and strategic game is always led by England and Australia .

 

They will look at ODI’s as 3 x 100 ball innings like Baseball and pick teams accordingly and play accordingly as well.

 

the game will tend to skill neutrality  to reduce the variability across the 3 innings . 
 

If India is smart they should create a new tournament  with innings splits of 15-20-15 overs and field a bigger team , a bowling team and batting team.

 

this will allow the selectors to pick the best for each phase of the game and you are building specialists and all rounders . 

 

 

 

[tweaker]

The current odi team is for BCCI to fill treasury as much till.Virat and Rohit are playing.

 

They want to promote Gill as successor to Virat and rope as many sponsors for Gill.

 

The odi squad should consist of Tilak,Parag, and Kuldeep should be in the playing 11.

[vvvslaxman]

11 minutes ago, tweaker said:

The current odi team is for BCCI to fill treasury as much till.Virat and Rohit are playing.

 

They want to promote Gill as successor to Virat and rope as many sponsors for Gill.

 

The odi squad should consist of Tilak,Parag, and Kuldeep should be in the playing 11.

 

India massively improved in bowling department since 2011 thanks to Shami, Bumrah, Kully. But our batting depth progressively got weaker. India cannot afford to play world cup with bits and pieces players batting at 5,6.  

[Ultimate_Game]

Shorter format tournies are won by batting depth. This is why we won in 2011 and struggled thereafter when Kohli went with a top heavy lineup for almost a decade. We won again once Rohit took over and we went back to adding depth. One of the reasons we're struggling in ODIs is that adding Rohit and especially Kohli destroys the balance of the team. Since next WC is in SA, here's my ideal XI:

 

Jaiswal

Gill (c)

Sai (or Tilak)

Iyer (vc)

Axar (adds balance and is clutch)

KL Rahul (wk)

Pandya (MVP of the LOI team; nobody comes close to the balance he adds to the team)

Parag/Dube (we don't need Kuldeep in SA; Dube is an option in seam friendly conditions if he can bowl the same way he did in Asia Cup)

Arshdeep/Harshit (or Varun C if it's a patta and no help for seamers as Varun's mystery bowling will help dry up the runs relatively compared to a pacer)

Bumrah

Siraj (or one of Arshdeep/Harshit if Siraj is out of form)

 

Others in the core group:

Kuldeep

Rinku

Nitish Reddy (or any decent pace all-rounder who comes through as Reddy hasn't taken his chances)

Vipraj Nigam (Potentially a wonderful all-rounder especially in sub-continental or spin friendly conditions)

Pant (backup wk)

Yash Dayal or Khaleel (or any other seamer in form like Mohsin)

 

This 20 odd squad would be the perfect mix for the WC and later. The key is to add depth and have a power-hitter at 8, not someone like Sundar who's a poor man's Jadeja. Sundar is great in Tests just like Jadeja but not made for LOIs unless he plays as a specialist bowler in spin friendly conditions and comes in at 9.

Edited October 26, 2025 by Ultimate_Game

[deathmonger]

4 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

2011-2025

 

Sehwag (could bowl)     Rohit

Tendulkar  (could bowl) Gill

Gambhir    Kohli

Kohli         Iyer

MSD         Kela

Yuvraj   (bowling too)   Axar

Raina     (could bowl) Pandya

Harbhajan singh   (can hit big) Kuldeep

Zaheer (decent bat)  Bumrah

Munaf   Siraj

Sreesanth  Rana

 

 

If you look at the team one the left

 

Raina coming in at no.7 had 3 ODI centuries already when he played this match, Yuvraj had 13 centuries, MSD  6 centuries, Kohli 5 centuries, Gambhir had 9 centuries , Sehwag had 14 centuries. Basically from 1 to 7 all had centuries. Look at the current side. Despite pressure batting skills Axar is never going to score a ODI 100. Neither will Washington Sundar or even Pandya. Bumrah, Kully, Pandya only 3 upgrades i must say.  Especially the one we played in Australia is lighter than this unit.  Only Axar can be accommodated in top 7. Every one else should be able to bat big if needed. Cannot have bits and peices players there.

 

 

  

they will keep an ar at 8 - sundar most prolly

 

if rana/arshdeep improve their batting only then 4 bowlers.

[Ultimate_Game]

46 minutes ago, deathmonger said:

they will keep an ar at 8 - sundar most prolly

 

if rana/arshdeep improve their batting only then 4 bowlers.

 

No. 8 should be a batter, not a bowler turned into a batter else we'll face the same issues we faced in the past. In pressure situations bowlers will go back to getting out cheaply. That's why you need a batter or a batting all-rounder at 8.

[Zero_Unit]

Kinda hard to compare a extremly strong team that had some of the greatest players playing vs today's team that plays against weaker oppositions. Most team has regressed due to players retiring and are in the building phase. Also, alot of the guys in the team are still in their early part of their career (not even mid).

2011 > today

[cowboysfan]

imo Washy is not it,he is not a good batsman for LOI cricket,we should have picked PArag who cant actually bat big if needed and bowl 5-6 overs.

[tweaker]

Why the selectors are ignoring Parag ,is he another Sarfaraz. 

[Manucrick]

5 hours ago, tweaker said:

Why the selectors are ignoring Parag ,is he another Sarfaraz. 

Looks like another Sarfraz he played sl bd series then suddenly he dropped