Virat Kohli finally loses a Bi-lateral ODI series, a trend started since beating England in the start of 2017, same series before which Dhoni relinquished the captaincy and Kohli was finally made captain in all the 3 formats. Since then Indian Team has been riding high on success winning 7 bilateral series in succession(they have won 2 more series prior to that under Dhoni's captaincy). This series was also started with at 8 wicket drubbing of English team currently ranked no 1 in ODI rankings.





But whatever went right in that 1st ODI didn't work in next 2 ODIs. Top order failed and the spinners were dealt with relative ease. Although this is not the 1st time that India's middle order looked worse and bowler were toothless on a flat pitch. Everyone remember Champions Trophy 2017 final where both these things happened but loss against Sri Lanka in group stages was also equally worrisome where bowlers failed to defend a 320 total. Similarly, that 1 loss against South Africa where our wrist spinners failed to control the flow of runs was another example of their total submission. All these abject failures were hidden in between series wins but loss in this series has once again highlighted the issues and highlighted them to such an extend that management, although not in panic mode as yet, cant ignore them also anymore.





Indian batting order has been considered one of the most solid now for almost one and a half decade. During the decade of 2000, this solidity was provided with the presence of 7 proper batsmen in the side. Also in the middle order, the presence of many different performers, namely Dravid, Yuvraj, Kaif, Dhoni, Raina and others, and Sehwag and Ganguly and then Gambhir in opening slots, made sure that Indian team is finally not completely dependent of Sachin performing in top order. Then from 2010 onwards, addition of Virat Kohli has made this team a different kind of beast. During this time, Indian team was one of the most successful, specially in chasing the target .





India's Top 3 has been prolific in last 3 years, but others have not!!!





But since 2015 World Cup, middle order performance is not that prolific. While top 3 have averaged 60.01, from 4 to 7, average comes down to 34.93. 32 Centuries have been scored by top 3 while 4 to 7 has scored only 5. The difference between averages and centuries between top 3 and batsmen from 4 to 7 has never been so glaring. While MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya has been mainstay on these orders, so many others have been tried out for 4 to 6 positions from youngsters like KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav to vetrans like Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina. But no one has been convincing enough to pin down the position for themselves.





The best solution for this issue is actually coming from something that the team itself did. As we have seen captain Kohli demoted himself to no 4 in last 2 T20I series. Against SA, Raina batted at no 3 and against England it was KL Rahul. Similar tactics can be used in ODIs also with KL Rahul batting at 3. And Virat Kohli did play at no 4 till 2011 World Cup to accomodate 3 openers in the team when Sachin, Sehwag and Gambhir were playing together. There should not be much issue in this due to above 2 reasons.





Virat Kohli might need to start at bat at no. 4 in ODIs again





Since team management is still convinced to play MSD amid all his dot ball problems, he can bat at 5 where dot balls will not bother team as much as they will matter at no 6 and will get ample time to settle for his swashbuckling finishing. And at no 6, Karthik should come in as he is great form at the moment as he has shown in his brief inning in 3rd ODI against England. Also this will help MSD as he will be surrounded by in form batsmen. Also, in this approach, India will be able to utilize two batsmen who are in great form at the moment in Rahul and Karthik and give them the roles that they are already familiar with.





One effect of this middle order failures, although still not felt as convincingly, is that Indian team has not setup par scores for their bowling to defend on good pitches. Again since 2015 World cup, there are 6 occasions of team setting up a target of more than 280 runs and losing. 3 of those occasions came in 2016 series against Australia. On all 3 occasions, team reached 35 overs with run rates between 5.5 to 6 and losing only 1 or 2 wickets, but were unable to accelerate in last 10 overs.





Apart from not accelerating in final overs, team is also far more cautious in starting 10 overs. India has 2nd worst runrates among top 8 teams in 1st 10 overs since 2015 World Cup. In this series, they started well while chasing but in 3rd ODI when they were batting 1st, again they scored only 32 runs in 10 overs while Eng scored 70+ in 1st 2 ODIs. Both Dhawan and Rohit has been banking on their ability to cover up on their strike rates later. But a selective approach to hit few balls in order to increase the run rate is required. Selective approach, because of the way Rohit got out in last 2 ODIs while playing big shots. Indian team can take the queue from the way Bairstow selectively targeted Bhuvi and Shardul in initial overs in 3rd ODI just to take some pressure off his team.





India is definitely a contender to win next year's World Cup. These issues might not trouble them everytime but this World Cup is a really long tournament. And a loss here or there might change the course of the tournament in big manner. Fans will not want to see the similar performances as to that of Champions Trophy 17 final but if these issues are not resolved they might have to and that too before final itself.