India in search of Nos. 4 and 5 batsmen for World Cup

India have won their first round of the Asia Cup with a convincing win over Pakistan but as the Super Four part of the tournament got off to a start, there’s the possibility that there could be an India — Pakistan finals which is what everybody would want. The finals, as we saw in the ICC Champions Trophy finals last year, can be a totally different animal where just one wrong step can take the game away from the team.

While the Asia Cup is definitely important, it is a dress rehearsal for the ICC World Cup in England next year. All the teams will be looking to fill the holes in their teams.

For India, the puzzle seems to be who should be batting at numbers four and five.

That spot is being tried between Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik with Mahendra Singh Dhoni not too far away. The pressure will be on Karthik after the brilliant batting by Rishab Pant in the final Test match in England.

Being a left-hander he brings in a bit of variety in the middle order which consists mainly of the right-handers. There’s only Shikhar Dhawan at the top of the order and nobody else who is left-handed so Pant needs to have a good season to press his claims for a place in the World Cup XV.

The ICC is rightly strict about the number of players that can be there in the squad though it allows the teams to carry extra members to bowl in practice nets. India did that in the last World Cup in Australia and New Zealand where the bowling standbys accompanied the main squad.

Good move

This is a good move for not only does it ease the workload of the regular bowlers in the nets but also means that in case of injury and need for replacement, the player is already there and doesn’t need time to get acclimatised and get his body clock in tune with the local time. This will be crucial in England where the weather can be a bit nippy on some days, though with global warming the months of June and July are pretty much like the Indian summer.

This time when the Indian team went to England, it had a squad of 18 members. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) can, of course, afford to send three teams but when a country’s team is chosen then only the best 16 have to be picked quite simply because the national cap has to be earned. Just because the selectors can’t make up their minds doesn’t mean they should be selecting 18 players.

Yes, there were injuries but if a player is not fit for the first two Tests then he shouldn’t be in the squad. To take the hard decisions is why the selectors have been given their jobs and by picking additional members they are taking the easy way out.

By all means, send extra players to help with net practice but these members shouldn’t be given the blazers and caps and colours of the regular squad.