MS Dhoni and India’s middle order muddle: Problems which need to be resolved

India hopped across to Dubai, minus captain Virat Kohli, hit the ground running, got a scare from Hong Kong, tied a match against Afghanistan, and then hammered Pakistan and Bangladesh to eventually win the Asia Cup.

Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was lauded, the performances of the wrist spinners were hailed, and the fast bowlers, well, they kept doing what they’ve doing.

So all the boxes ticked? Not quite. The aforementioned areas were never really the concern. India’s top order has been a prolific machine, churning out runs even in their sleep. The top three have been the best in the world, they take strike, see off the new ball and all the potency, and then win matches.

The spinners have picked up wickets in the middle overs, and the seamers finish things off with ease! All very lucid, except when wicket number two falls, when the middle order needs to take responsibility. They have not looked confident, India have been splashing around for different options, almost like a musical chair, and have yet kept tumbling and tripping over.

The process was all talked about, positives, positions up for grabs and what not. Words echoed, confidence permeating, and yet the numbers ring a rather shallow story. One that needs the facade to be shunted away and then go down and look at the problematic area.

The middle order is a problem, it has been a problem, and if the same hymn is sung, it will continue to be a problem.

Since the start of 2018, India have tried 11 batsmen between 4-7 batting positions in ODIs, and yet the positions are as vulnerable as they were before the start of the year.

In 15 matches this year, India’s middle order has been, quite simply put, the worst. They have laboured to 796 runs at an average of 25.67 and with a strike rate of 79. Only one batsman has managed to post a score in excess of 50 runs, and he is Ajinkya Rahane. Yes, he is not part of India’s ODI ambitions at the moment!

The team has been successful in coloured clothing primarily because the top order has plundered away 64.15% of the total runs since 2017. And now, lets scroll down. The batsman waddling out from number 4 to number 7 have contributed 22.37% to the team runs in ODIs in 2018. Such is the wide gulf in the contribution that is amazing the team management has not rejigged the entire order.

Amabti Rayudu is an honest player, he will be busy at the crease, hit a few blazing strokes and get a fifty. And then he blinks and gets out, the strike rate hovers around 100. Good, yes, good enough, no!

KL Rahul is an enigma, hit or miss, hot and cold, he can be the enforcer, but does he have the mental space to walk out and face the slower bowlers on generally sluggish surfaces?

And then MS Dhoni, the man with the fastest hands in the east, the man who is getting more vocal by the day behind the stumps, is the guiding force for Kohli, Rohit, Chahal, Kuldeep, India. He looks so shaky with the bat, the greying hair an apt reflection of his prowess with the bat.

Even he was booed, even Dhoni when he struggled to get going in England, so how does he react? Does he have the fire, yes sir, he has, but does he have the modus operandi to come out swinging, in literal and in all terms?

India have now included Rishabh Pant, but he might bat at number 6 or 7, Rayudu could slip down to number 4, Dhoni at 5, Pant at 6. Another set of players, another set of results?

Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma, they look to chase, India believe they can erupt while chasing any total, but as the final in Asia Cup showed, as the series in England revealed, there needs to be substance to back the bravado. And that substance is missing from the middle order.