Team India's power center has shifted: Not Rohit-Virat, now Pant-Pandya are the biggest superstars, the team's batting firepower is near the middle order

Posted on 18th Jul 2022 by rohit kumar

Just as India is considered a middle-class country, in the same way now Team India is also becoming a middle-order team. Be it Test, ODI, or T20 format, now it seems that our real batting will start only after the fall of two to three wickets. We got hints of this at least five times in the seven matches on the tour of England in all three formats. Earlier, the same thing happened in the Australia tour and home series matches.

 

Overall, it is being said that even though Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have become the biggest cricketing stars of the current era in public perception and social media, the picture has changed on the ground. Now the era of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya has come. Let us know in detail how?

 

US, UAE, and Oman batsmen ahead of India's top three

 

Till the year 2019, in terms of performance, India's power center was with the top-order batsmen. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan used to pair in ODIs and T20s and Virat Kohli used to come at number 3. In about 60% of India's matches, one or the other of these three played a big inning, but the situation changed from the beginning of 2020. In ODI cricket, 11 players were tried in the top-3 position for India. These included Virat, Rohit, and Dhawan. During this, in 24 ODIs from India, only 1 century came from the top-3 side.

 

During this time in ODIs, more centuries came from countries like America (4 centuries), UAE (5 centuries), and Oman (7 centuries). Pakistan was at the forefront in this matter. The top-3 batsmen of the Pakistan team have scored 10 centuries in 15 matches played since 2020.

 

Our top three behind Pakistan in T20 too

 

The T20 World Cup is to be held in Australia in October-November this year. In this format also our top 3 have not played very well. From 1 January 2020 till now, a total of 15 batsmen including Rohit, Virat, and Dhawan have batted in the top-3 positions. He scored runs at an average of 33. At the same time, the top-3 batsmen of Pakistan have scored runs at an average of 40 during this period.

 

Then the stars of the middle order lead the team to victory

 

The good thing is that despite the flops of Virat, Dhawan, and Rohit, Team India was winning most of the matches. Instead of these flop stars in batting, our middle-order batsmen are taking the extra load. Since January 1, 2020, in 24 ODIs, India's No.-4 to No.-7 batsmen have scored an average of 44.91. Best average in the world. 4 centuries have been made by these batsmen. More than this, only New Zealand's batsmen from No. 4 to 7 have scored 5 centuries.

 

The same is the case in T20. Our No.4 to No.7 has scored runs at an average of 31 in 43 matches since 2020. Highest average in the world. The strike rate is 140. It is almost equal to that of England and more than the number-4 to number-7 of the rest of the world.

 

Pant became the savior, Pandya Mr. Constant

 

Rishabh Pant has proved to be the best batsman for Team India for the last year by combining all three formats. He started this tour of England by scoring a century in the Birmingham Test and ended with a blistering century in the Manchester ODI.

Pant has scored 1,287 runs in 36 international matches since July 1, 2021. These include three centuries. Rohit Sharma is present in second place with 1,144 runs in 29 matches, but he has not done anything special since the last T20 World Cup.

 

Virat Kohli has scored just 851 runs in 27 matches. These include 7 half-centuries, but not a single century. Leave a year, they have not been able to score any century for the last three years.

 

Hardik Pandya does not play Tests due to fitness, but in the last year, he has scored 415 runs in 21 matches. Also, he has taken 15 wickets.

 

Pandya has also become the only Indian all-rounder who has scored 50+ runs in a single match in all three formats and also took 4 wickets.

 

Both Pant and Pandya are also captains of IPL teams. Pandya has also proved his leadership skills by winning the IPL title on the very first try. Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, is 35 years old, while Virat Kohli will turn 34 in November. That is, both of them are in the last few years of their respective careers. If they do not regain their status in the next two-three months, then players like Pandya and Hardik can be a burden on them not only on the ground but also in public perception and social media.

 

Also Read: Monty Panesar told, why can't BCCI drop Virat Kohli from the T20 team?