India has taken a 2-1 lead against Australia in the 5-match series. The final game is set for November 8 in Brisbane. A win would seal the series for India, while a loss would result in a 2-2 draw, eliminating the threat of losing the series, which is comforting as preparations for next year's T20 World Cup continue. However, victories often overshadow weaknesses, leading to future challenges. Team India's T20 squad faces two such issues.
The Middle Order Lacks Strength
The first match of this T20 series was canceled due to rain. Yet, in the second T20, Team India, starting with the bat, managed just a meager 125 runs. Aside from Abhishek Sharma's 68, no batsman rose to the occasion. Six other players couldn't even reach a two-digit score, and Harshit Rana scored 35. This led to India's loss in the match.
In the third T20, India chased down 188 runs and clinched victory, with Washington Sundar shining as the hero. Yet, neither the top order nor the middle order managed a fifty. Jitesh played a crucial unbeaten knock of 22 runs in just 13 balls.
Analyzing Thursday's fourth T20, India started batting to post 167 runs, but the middle order again performed poorly. Gill's bat produced 46 runs. Notably, Tilak Varma, the hero of the Asia Cup final, had a forgettable series. Captain Surya also couldn't perform exceptionally.
India's top and middle-order batsmen need to put runs on the board and craft substantial innings.
Excessive Experiments Might Backfire...
Since the Asia Cup tournament, Team India has been conducting experiments, sparking numerous questions. Be it changes in the batting lineup or alterations in bowling, queries have been raised. Experiments were done with Harshit Rana and Shivam Dube. Questions remain prevalent. Sanju was sent lower in the order and then promoted to number-3 in this series. The same occurred with Shivam Dube, who didn't get to bat in the third T20, with Sundar taking the stage, and returned as number-3 in the fourth T20. Captain Surya’s batting order has been continuously shuffled.
Harshit Rana also saw batting experiments, only to be benched in the next match. In one match, Sundar batted but wasn't given the ball, while Abhishek Sharma did bowl in that same game. Arshdeep Singh had to sit out due to Harshit Rana despite having impressive T20 statistics.
How Many Matches Will Team India Play Before the T20 World Cup?
Following the Australia series, South Africa will play a 5-match T20 series against India on home soil. Subsequently, New Zealand will arrive for a 5-match series against India. Then, Team India will tour England for another 5-match T20 series before the World Cup. Thus, Team India must finalize their preparations.
