Shikhar Dhawan Retained
Shikhar Dhawan has test match batting average of 42.62, which makes for good reading and is better than Murali Vijay's 40.02 and KL Rahul's 40.50. But it is worth noting that outside Asia his average drops to 28.84 where Murali Vijay (31.43) and KL Rahul (36.00) has a better record. Also, the last time India toured England, Australia and South Africa (just recently) he was dropped from playing XI mid-tour. It signals that once he struggles, captain loses confidence in him and eventually drops him. After solitary historic test against Afghanistan, India will embark on a tough tour of England and clearly at the moment apart from Dhawan, India does not have a back-up opener. Abhinav Mukund, who last year replaced Dhawan during Bangladesh and Australia series, had a poor Ranji Trophy season with only 247 runs in nine innings at 30.87 and his non-selection in India A squad clearly shows that selectors have now no faith in him. In Ranji Trophy 2017-18, all top three highest run-getters are openers but none of them have yet worn an Indian test cap. So, with England tour coming up, Virat Kohli and team management are yet again backing Shikhar Dhawan to fill the spot of the third opener.
Ajinkya Rahane shown door
Before the start of South Africa ODIs, captain Virat Kohli said that Ajinkya Rahane is one of the primary candidates for middle order spot for World Cup 2019. Before that Kohli labeled Rahane as the third opener: back-up for Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. Last year when Rohit Sharma was rested for West Indies series, Rahane was asked to open and he was India's highest run-scorer in the series with 336 runs at 67.20 with strike-rate of 77.06. Later against Australia, when Shikhar Dhawan had to miss the series due to personal reasons, Rahane again opened for India and scored 244 runs (2nd highest for India behind Rohit Sharma) at 48.80 with strike-rate of 82.71. So, these numbers clearly show that Rahane did his job as a back-up/third opener. But against South Africa, earlier this year, when Rahane was moved in the middle-order, he scored 140 runs at 35.00 with 76.92 and clearly, Rahane struggled to rotate the strike. Now he finds himself out of ODI squad that will play three ODIs against England and most possibly out of contention for next year's World Cup, six ODIs after, Kohli said that his ability to play fast bowling well is one of the major reason that he will get number 4 spot. It palpably shows team management confused Rahane about his role and now that he is dropped it begs a question whether the reason behind this decision has been conveyed to Rahane or not.
Middle-order conundrum and lack of sixth bowling option
The back-up opener slot is now given to KL Rahul who is having a very good IPL season. Also, the number 4 slot that Rahane occupied during South Africa series will be now again up for grabs. Ambati Rayudu - who is making a comeback after two years, Shreyas Iyer and Dinesh Karthik will vie for two middle order spots. (As Kedar Jadhav is injured, one more slot is empty for ODIs against England) There is also a chance for Rahul filling up the fourth position but that possibility is very dim as he has already been tried at that slot before with little success.
Also as none of Rahul, Rayudu, Iyer and Karthik offers any bowling; Kohli will have no option apart from his main five bowlers (including Hardik Pandya). It means that if one of bowlers have a bad day - which usually happens these days due flat pitches, short boundaries etc - Kohli will have no fall back option. It is worth remembering that when Bumrah, Jadeja and Ashwin had a poor outing against Pakistan in Champions Trophy final, Kohli was left wondering where to go and India ended up conceding 338 runs. Also, every ODI side gives itself at-least six bowling options. Lack of sixth bowling option could again hurt India. So selectors should start auditioning for that role.
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