India’s Batting order

Yuvraj’s late blitz yesterday helped India reach an above par score of 180. But, that didn’t seem possible when both Dhoni and Gambhir were struggling to force the pace in the middle overs.

Dhoni thinks of his role as providing a solid anchor (cut out risky shots, keep the strike rotating, run hard, play safe without getting bogged down, put the bad balls away) at one end, allowing the other stroke players to be naturally aggressive at the other end. I completely agree with this strategy and his role. I also think Gambhir could, should and often does perform a similar role at the top of the order. So, instead of slotting himself at the fixed position three, Dhoni should slot himself as replacing Gambhir.

In fact, instead of a fixed batting order, each batsmen’s position should depend on the wicket to fall. My batting order would begin with Gambhir and Sehwag as openers. Dhoni will be slotted to follow Gambhir. Raina would follow Sehwag (or Dhoni if both Gambhir and Dhoni fall before Sehwag). Yuvraj would follow Raina (or Dhoni if Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhoni are all back in the dugout). Yusuf follows Yuvraj/Raina/Dhoni with Irfan and the tail following Yusuf.

The idea is for Gambhir/Dhoni to hold one end up with the other stroke makers taking up the risk of scoring aggressively at the other end. This means, if Gambhir bats through the innings, Dhoni will not get to bat (unless all the other batsmen – Sehwag, Raina, Yuvraj and Yusuf are all back in the dugout). Based on current team composition and form, I think this is a good batting strategy.