The fifth bowler conundrum might haunt India in the finals against Pakistan

Team India has been performing extremely well in the current edition of the Champions Trophy. They have shown that the defeat against Sri Lanka was a blip and nothing else. The balance of the team is right and everything seems to be pointing towards the trophy right now for India.

However, if you look closely the Indian team has certain weaknesses. They have certain problems which are not big enough but can be exploited to a an extent where it creates an impact. We saw against Bangladesh that India were struggling once their front line bowlers ended their first spell. The spinners were not a getting a great deal of purchase from the pitch and the Tigers were poised for a big score.

Hardik Pandya who is supposed to bowl to his full ability is missing the mark more often than not. Virat was in a dilemma but there was a saviour in Kedar Jadhav. Jadhav broke the partnership that saw Bangladesh tumble but he is not a regular bowler and he is not going to get you wickets every game.

The fifth bowler conundrum

After Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah finish their tormenting opening spells the batter get a bit of a leeway. The opponents know the spinners are nothing but ineffective in these conditions and this brings us to the fifth bowler. Apparently, by leaving out Umesh Yadav, you have to bowl Hardik and he hasn’t been at his bowling wise.

Against Bangladesh that Virat had to split the 10 overs of the fifth bowler and luckily Jadhav did well. If that was not the case India would have been chasing a stiff target. Pandya was expensive in his first spell and the skipper had to turn to another option. Jadhav bowled 6 overs and gave away very little picking up two crucial wickets.

Basically, he did Pandya’s job. The low arm action and his short stature help him bowl a lot of dot deliveries. The batters have a hard time picking up the length and hence scoring is harder. This question of the fifth bowler is the only weak link this Indian team might have. This is where Pakistan should look to crack things open.

The middle overs

The middle overs are as important as the powerplay overs. The only way to stop the other team from scoring freely is by taking wickets at regular intervals. India were lucky with those two run outs against South Africa and they hit jackpot with Jadhav the other day. The one time they failed to take wickets in the middle overs was against Sri Lanka and we all know how it ended.

That said, Virat Kohli should probably have a plan B when his frontline spinners don’t fire. Given the conditions, Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja might struggle against Pakistan in the finals as well and if Pandya also fails to make a mark then can Kedar bail India out again? We will have to wait and see.