The experiments ended up costing India the ODI series against Sri Lanka.
The Indian team suffered an embarrassing ODI series defeat against Sri Lanka on the recently concluded tour. In the process, the Islanders registered their first ODI bilateral series win against India in 27 years.
After registering a 3-0 clean sweep in the T20I leg, the Men in Blue were expected to carry forward the momentum but that was not the case.
Gautam Gambhir, whose first assignment was the India tour of Sri Lanka after replacing Rahul Dravid, tried out multiple experiments which ended up costing team India.
Echoing on the same lines, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra seemed displeased with the constant tinkering with the batting lineup.
He also highlighted that the No.4 spot seems to be extremely volatile with no one player solidified for the position.
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Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “No.4 has become a revolving door as we had a different No.4 in every game. Why do you need to push someone like KL Rahul down to No.6-7? Why don’t you fight from the front? India played KL Rahul for two games and then dropped him. It is interesting to think whether he is in their plans because from 2023 no one in the middle order has scored as many runs as him.”
Rahul primarily played at the number five position during the 2023 ODI World Cup but had been absent from the team since the tournament. He returned for the series against Sri Lanka, where Washington Sundar was promoted to bat at number four, contributing five runs in the first ODI.
In the second ODI, Shivam Dube took on the critical batting role but was dismissed without scoring, leading to India’s loss. In the third ODI, Rishabh Pant occupied the spot but was out for just six runs as India faced another defeat.
After the loss against Sri Lanka, the Indian team will shift their focus on the upcoming home season, starting next month when Bangladesh visits for two Tests and three T20Is.
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