Letter of the Day

Of late, the Indian middle-order has been guilty of squandering away starts by openers. But, as John Wright bluntly put it, "In one day cricket it is easier for number one, two and three batsmen in the middle but it is always difficult for number five and six batsmen to keep their wickets and at the same time to go after the bowling."

The think tank should definitely look into this area.

And maybe have different batting line-ups for different situations. It is no secret that currently, the batting fails while chasing. And this is where Wright's words come to mind. It might be a good idea to have our best batsman in the middle order in such situations.

Frankly, if we lose Sachin early on while chasing a target, it usually has a demoralizing effect on the rest of the players. So why not let him come in at No 4 and win some matches for us? Sachin thrives when faced with new challenges. And this would be one way to live up to the tag of being the best batsman in the world today.

There are many who consider Bevan the best one-day player simply because he wins lost matches for the Aussies. And this is what Sachin can (hopefully) do for us in the middle-order. So while chasing, have Ganguly and Sehwag (hopefully) smash the bowling and get us off to a good start.

It'll probably do their confidence a world of good knowing that Sachin is still there. And Sachin comes in at No. 4 and (hopefully) leads us to victory.

Now, while setting a target, we should give our best batsman the full quota of 50 overs. So let's have the tried and tested pair of Sachin and Ganguly open with Sehwag coming in during the slog overs to (hopefully) smash the ball around. For a pace-oriented bowling attack on a lively pitch, we could drop Ganguly down the order and let Sehwag and Sachin open. Ganguly is at his best against the spinners anyway.

The fact that we now have options with the opening batsmen can lead to some pretty interesting scenarios in the batting lineup depending on the situation.

Same team, but 3 players swapped around according to their strengths. Might be worth a try!

Gopan Menon