Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy as well as his finishing skills will be put through the test when an inconsistent Indian team will take on a rejuvenated New Zealand in the series-deciding fifth and final ODI at Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
With the series locked at 2-2, Dhoni and his men will be eager to clinch victory while history beckons for the Kiwis as they have a glorious chance to taste their maiden win in a bilateral ODI series in India.
The newly appointed selection committee, headed by MSK Prasad, was given the choice of making changes in the squad for the last two ODIs against New Zealand.
India had won two of the first three games, but on both occasions, India’s win wasn’t a cakewalk. It was a one-man show. When Virat Kohli performed, India won. But when he failed, the entire team faltered.
As always, a Dhoni-led team management has opted out of bringing in any of the likes of Mandeep Singh or Jayant Yadav into the playing XI. The skipper wants to stick with a tried and trusted combination.
The Indian team, at present, has a truckload of worries. The opening combination, barring Ajinkya Rahane’s 57 in the fourth ODI, has been a constant worry because of Rohit Sharma’s poor form.
Want to see benched guys play in last #indvsnz ODI. Hope it's a turner, then Dhawal, Jayant can be in for Umesh, Bumrah. Mandeep for Rohit.
— Saurabh Somani (@saurabh_42) October 26, 2016
Failure or not, Rohit has been a permanent member of the Indian line-up with Dhoni seemingly in no mood to give youngsters a chance. That has seen Punjab batsman Mandeep Singh warming the bench throughout the series.
Rohit’s last big score came in Australia, and it’s been almost nine months since he has scored a century in either the longer or shorter formats. His scores in the series read 14, 15, 13 and 11, which has hurt the Indian team at the top of the order.
Rahane, on the other hand, has managed to stitch together 113 runs from the four games, with nearly half of them coming in the penultimate ODI.
Manish Pandey’s performance should have been under the scanner, but he too remained unchanged for the last two ODIs. He has only 76 runs from four matches, and had he not departed for 12 runs at Ranchi, India’s chase would have been made easier.
A lot has been spoken and analysed about Dhoni’s batting. Following his half-century, the local boy disappointed his home crowd in the Ranchi ODI with a 31-ball 11 before being clean bowled by Jimmy Neesham.
Dhoni has also made a revelation of ‘losing the ability’ to rotate the strike freely in the middle overs. He has openly admitted that the finisher Dhoni of his heydays is now struggling.
Vizag is the same venue where Dhoni had received instant stardom with his brilliant 123-ball 148 to take India to a whopping total of 356/9 in their huge win over Pakistan in 2005.
#TeamIndia Captain @msdhoni bats for the young guns in the squad #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/Dy0pCLN95h
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 27, 2016
As far as the bowling department is concerned, there are no complaints. The spin trio of Amit Mishra, Axar Patel and Amit Mishra ensured that the last two ODIs didn’t require change in the squad.
If the openers fail at Vizag, the team selection that has overlooked Mandeep will be blamed.
A threat of a cyclone in Vizag has been reported by the Meteorological Department of India, and that is the last thing the Men in Blue would want.
Under Dhoni, India have lost three ODI series in a row: 1-2 against Bangladesh, 2-3 at South Africa and 1-4 against Australia. In the last 18 months, the only ODI series victory that India have won came against minnows Zimbabwe.
Whether Dhoni’s trust in the same bunch of players over an entire series will pay off or not will be seen on Saturday.
