Find who has been the biggest positive for India in ODI series against Lanka

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The victorious Indian ODI team after their clean sweep over Sri Lanka at R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday. Image Source: Xtra Time

Debasis Sen, Colombo: The recently concluded ODI series against Sri Lanka provided a perfect platform for the Indian team management to assess their bench strength. The main objective was to check out the skills of some fringe players, whether they can fit in the scheme for the ICC World Cup which is just two years away. The biggest positive for the Indian team has been the rise in stature of Jasprit Bumrah who bagged 15 wickets in the series which earned him the Man of the Series award.

“Getting a man of the series award in the subcontinent as a fast bowler, it’s always a great thing to achieve,” said Indian Captain Virat Kohli after the clean sweep at Premadasa Stadium on Sunday. The Mumbai Indians bowler bowled with a lot of zip along with his several variations, which proved difficult for the Lankan batsmen.

Read More: Star Indian bowler makes a giant leap in ICC ODI Rankings

Bumrah’s meteoric rise can be attributed to his giant lep in the ICC rankings, wherein he jumped 27 spots to be ranked No. 4 in the ODI bowlers list. Not as successful as Bumrah, in terms of wicket, Bhuvneshwar Kumar proved his worth in the final game of the series with a five-fer. In the absence of frontline pacers like Md Shami and Umesh Yadav, the medium pace bowling comprising of  Bhuvneshwar Kumar , Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya didn’t let down the team.

Another huge positive aspect for the team management was to assess the skills of fringe spinners in the absence of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. All the three spinners -Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav proved they can be just as, if not more, effective.

As far as batting is concerned, India still needs to sort out the middle order woes. KL Rahul’s experiment in the middle order did not turn out successful in this series. The fact that with the top three batsmen- Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli getting runs, the middle order was not tested except for the second game in Pallekele. But the  most heartening thing for the team management will be the inclusion of Manish Pandey. The Karnataka bastman, who was coming back from injury made the most of his opportunities, especially the partnership he was involved with Dhoni to guide India home in the fourth ODI of the series. With both Kedar Jadhav and KL Rahul failing to make an impact, Manish Pandey can be a good option especially with his running between the wickets and brilliant fielding. The Kolkata Knight Riders cricketer’s fitness and agility is a biggest plus for him.

Read More: What does Kohli think about the key factor for India to regain the World Cup?

Lastly, MS Dhoni once again proved that he is still the go to man when the odds are stacked heavily against the team. A lot of focus in the ODI series revolved around the former captain’s form and fitness. It has to be admitted that Dhoni has put to rest all such negative discussion about him with his effort both with the bat and behind the wicket. Critics may argue that his finishing powers are on the wane, that he cannot rotate the strike or shift gears seamlessly as he used to earlier, but it was his experience and cool head that snatched victory from jaws of defeat in the second ODI at Pallekele. With an altered technique and a new set of pads are the equipment Dhoni has chosen to embark on a fresh journey. If Ravi Shastri’s words are anything to go by, Dhoni is not even half finished yet.

Overall, it has been a thoroughly dominating series win and both the captain and coach can take full credit for the intensity shown on the ground right from the start of test series.

According to the Indian captain, “We didn’t win three games in a row before this. So from the last game in West Indies to now, we’ve won six, that’s something that we wanted to address, which we did in this series.”