With just 13 more ODIs to be played [5 v West Indies, 3 v Australia and 5 v New Zealand] after the Asia Cup outing
Ambati Rayudu
India's middle order will once again be the focus of the five national selectors when they meet at the BCCI headquarters today to pick the team for Asia Cup that will be played from September 15 to 28 in the United Arabs Emirates (UAE).
With just 13 more ODIs to be played [5 v West Indies, 3 v Australia and 5 v New Zealand] after the Asia Cup outing, the Indian team management would be looking to get their middle order firmly in place, so that the bilateral series could provide ample opportunities to the unit to get into the groove before next year's World Cup. India experimented with KL Rahul at the much-debated No. 4 position during the three ODIs in England, but the elegant batsman returned scored just nine runs in the first two matches.
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Manish Pandey, who was briefly tested by the Indian team management in the middle order, has put himself in the reckoning once again with his unbeaten scores of 95, 21, 117 and 73 in the Quadrangular Series which concluded recently in Bangalore. Pandey's last ODI was against Sri Lanka in 2017. Another middle order contender that MSK Prasad & Co will look at is Ambati Rayudu, who missed out on the England series after failing the YoYo test. Rayudu has been in tremendous form since the Indian Premier League-11 where he was promoted in the batting order by Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni. The Indian team management may also take a cue from Dhoni's masterstroke.
Dinesh Karthik, who got a look-in in the final ODI against England, did not capitalise on the opportunity in the No. 4 position, scoring just 21 runs. Bringing back Suresh Raina for the England series may not have provided the Indian think-tank the desired result after the southpaw managed 47 runs in three ODIs.
It would be interesting to see if the selectors bring back fit-again all-rounder Kedar Jadhav, who was out of action for five months and also underwent a surgery after suffering a hamstring injury in the IPL. Another issue that the selectors would carefully look at is the workload management, considering most of the limited overs stars, barring Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, are part of the five-Test series against England.
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