4 big concerns that Gautam Gambhir needs to fix in Team India’s ODI side

2. Stop experimental tactics

Ever since Gautam Gambhir kick-started his new venture as India’s head coach, he never shied away from experimenting with various combinations and strategies. Although experimentation is important for the welfare of the team, Gambhir’s recent experimentation led to chaos and inconsistency.

Team India lost the ODI series against Sri Lanka for the first time since 1997. It was evident that India’s experimental tactics didn’t yield positive results. Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar were promoted up the order to play their game but that didn’t work out.

The Men in Blue needs to settle on a core group of cricketers and have a proper game plan. Only then, it will help build team the right confidence going forward.

3. Middle Order batters struggling against Spin

During the just-concluded ODI series, Rohit Sharma adopted aggressive approach and played the game with intent. He munched on the powerplay overs to better effect and scored two quick fifties in the first and second ODI. However, the middle-order batters lacked the teeth as the game progressed.

One of the major issues that was clearly witnessed was that the middle-order batters failed to handle spin effectively. The Sri Lankan spinners used the conditions to their advantage and ended up ripping through India’s middle-order batters’ feathers.

The likes of Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer failed to use their experience to better effect. All the right-handers fell prey to cheap scores in the ODI series. It is just that they need to improve on their technique against spin in order to perform better in these conditions.

4. Bowlers leaking runs to opposition lower order batters

Another major concern was that Indian bowlers weren’t ruthless against Sri Lanka’s lower-order batters. The bowlers gave away runs too easily instead of containing runs and taking wickets. On the other hand, Sri Lanka’s lower-order often added crucial runs, which made the difference in tight games.

As a result, the Indian bowlers need to be more disciplined in the slog overs. They should make sure that they execute their plans better and not let the tail-enders to build momentum.

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