India should have a solid middle order, feels Mohinder Amarnath

After defeats in the first 2 Tests, India bounced back to win the third and then thrashed South Africa 5-1 in 6-match ODI series. India’s top order which includes Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Virat Kohli has shown tremendous form throughout the ODI series while Rohit Sharma has performed in bis and pieces. The Indians have been dominant but their middle-order has been unable to lift their game in what one can call in their limited opportunities they have got.

Former India all-rounder Mohinder Amarnath has shown his concerns on the Indian middle order’s poor show during the ODI series in a column written for Times of India. Amarnath said in the column that going into the tour, India would’ve gone with main motive of winning the Test series there. He also hailed India’s dominance in the ODI series but was of the view that Test series was little more important.

“Although they won the ODIs comfortably, the main purpose of the South Africa tour would have been to win the Tests,” the 1983 world cup winning member Amarnath wrote in the column. 67-year-old Amarnath felt that India still needs to work out a solution for their away tours in the longer format of the game.

Played the last Test with intensity even after losing the series

According to Amarnath, India played the final Test with a lot of intensity even after losing the series in the first two games which helped them in the one-dayers as well. Amarnath wrote that India is playing their best cricket right now.

“There’s no doubt that India is definitely playing their best cricket right now. The turnaround was winning that third and final Test and it was a crucial win. Although they had lost the series, we could see the intensity was always there, they wanted to do well and show the world that they could win Test matches away too. If luck had gone India’s way, they just might have won the Tests too,” the column read.

India riding on just one man: Amarnath

The all-rounder felt that India is heavily depending on skipper Virat Kohli in the batting department. He also mentioned that most of the runs were scored in the series has been by opener Dhawan and skipper Kohli. He hailed Kohli’s performance as well.

“I felt India was riding on just one man, and that is the captain, Virat Kohli. He is right there at the top with the best in the business. And that’s a very good sign for India. However, other than Virat and Shikhar Dhawan, we’ve not seen much from the rest in the batting department,” wrote Amarnath in the TOI column.

Amarnath through the column showed his worry about the middle order of India. “The worry is, what if the top order doesn’t come through on a particular day, what would happen? It is here that India needs to really work hard and try and get a settled and strong middle order,” added Amarnath in his write-up for the news-daily.

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