In cricketing parlance it's often said that teams should not change winning combinations because more often than not it breaks the momentum. Come to think of it, India's travails began in England only when they made changes to the winning eleven of the second game at Lord's. 
 
After the high of the Lord's win, their first at the hallowed ground in 28 years, <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/ms-dhoni/4001/4057">MS Dhoni</a> and the team management left out <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/stuart-binny/4001/31034">Stuart Binny</a>, whose 78 in the second innings of the first Test at Trent Bridge blew away the clouds of defeat hovering over the team. <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/ishant-sharma/4001/4094">Ishant Sharma</a>, the hero at Lord's for his career-best 7 for 74 in the second innings, also had to miss out the Southampton Test on account of an ankle injury. While leaving Binny out was the team's decision, Ishant's unavailability couldn't be helped. 
 
In hindsight, those two changes changed India's series. The men who replaced Binny and Ishant were batsman <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/rohit-sharma/4001/4095">Rohit Sharma</a> and medium pacer <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/pankaj-singh/4001/4100">Pankaj Singh</a> and both had an outing to forget. Rohit made 28 and 6, while Pankaj returned 0 for 146 and 0 for 33 as India lost the match by 266 runs. 
 At Old Trafford, India this time made three changes, bringing in <keyword id="13839" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gautam-Gambhir">Gautam Gambhir</keyword>, R Ashwin and <keyword id="6370607" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Aaron">Varun Aaron</keyword> in places of <keyword id="17805" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shikhar-Dhawan">Shikhar Dhawan</keyword>, Rohit and Mohammed Shami. Things went from bad to worse and they were thumped by an innings and 54 runs inside three days. Clearly, those five changes didn't prove to be propitious for <keyword id="6397" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dhoni">Dhoni</keyword>. 
 
Having that in mind, now the question arises whether India should make changes once again for the fifth and final encounter at The Oval starting Friday. Gambhir had a horrible outing at Old Trafford; offspinner Ashwin, even though he did well with the bat, failed to take any wicket. However, Aaron impressed a lot, showing plenty of pace and his wicket of Moeen Ali with a vicious inswinger will stay as one of the moments of the series. 
 
The suspects this time are Gambhir, Ashwin and Pankaj, who despite breaking his wickets drought at Old Tafford, failed to inspire any confidence. Medium-pacer Ishwar Pandey and wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, who piled on the runs for India A against Australia A recently with scores of 219, 101 and 110 in two matches and was drafted into the squad as a replacement for the injured Wriddhiman Saha, are the only players in the squad not to have got a game yet. Should India hand them Test debuts at The Oval or, having learnt from their experiences in the series, they stick to the team that played at Old Trafford are questions that must be bothering Dhoni a great deal. 
 
By the look of things at present, sadly, India aren't likely to be going into the match unchanged. The cases of Pankaj and Gambhir need to be looked at with a magnifying glass. They looked very poor in the Old Trafford defeat. But then some would argue what's the guarantee that their replacements would revive the team. That the damage has already been done with the tourists trailing 2-1 in the series and bringing back Dhawan, Rohit, Shami or Binny is unlikely to do any good to the team. 
 
But in view of the proverbial fact that losing squads are kept getting tinkered with, a couple of changes look to be on the cards. There is no update on Ishant's fitness but he gets fit in time, Pankaj will have to go. Even if Ishant is not fit, Pandey should be considered on the basis of his accuracy and better swinging skills. Dhawan should be brought back in place of Gambhir for one simple reason that Gambhir looks to be way past his prime, and if the team management has to pick between two uncertainties, it should go for the younger and futuristic option that is Dhawan, who not long ago looked in good touch in New Zealand. The third suspect, Ashwin, should be retained considering he can contribute with the bat and looking at the team's current batting crisis playing him won't be a bad idea. 
 
The Oval Test seems to Dhoni's last chance at redemption and he can't afford to fail this time. Another loss or probably even a draw will certainly be the end of his captaincy. The selectors can't keep turning a blind eye to the fact that he has lost 12 Tests against one win outside the subcontinent in the last three years. Hopefully, Dhoni manages to assemble an eleven that brings an end to India's predicament.

To Change Or Not To Change, That's The Question For Dhoni

He has been the cynosure of all eyes ever since his savage assault on Kings XI Punjab yielded him 87 runs off just 25 balls. And although Chennai Super Kings lost the second Qualifier, Suresh Raina gave a timely reminder of exactly what he is capable of. Come June 15, Raina will yet again be keen to prove that his consistency is not just confined to the Indian Premier League and that he still remains one of India's best bets in the middle order. 
 With an international cricket career spanning almost eight years, Raina has been through several peaks and valleys. However, his biggest setback came when he was dropped from India's ODI set-up just before the Asia Cup in March following a string of below-par performances in the previous nine months. He managed just one half-century (that too against a poor <keyword id="41570" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Zimbabwe">Zimbabwe</keyword> side) in his previous 20-odd ODI innings for an average under 26. His last four series have fetched him just 291 runs from 15 innings against Australia, West Indies, South Africa and New Zealand with the short ball repeatedly doing him in. 
 In his absence, India struggled in the Asia Cup, winning only against Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Raina's exploits in the World Twenty20 a month later in Bangladesh saw him batting in a entirely different zone. He used the warm-up games to get back into the feel of things with an unbeaten 54 against England and carried it into the Super 10s with 63 runs in four innings. Then came the <keyword id="6354312" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="IPL">IPL</keyword>, where the Uttar Pradesh batsman once again went past 400 runs to earn himself a ticket to Bangladesh, where he gets to <keyword id="1411" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="captain">captain</keyword> the side in the absence of MS Dhoni. 
 Now that Raina is back in the squad, he has a stiff task at hand. Moreover, the absence of <keyword id="17805" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Shikhar-Dhawan">Shikhar Dhawan</keyword>, <keyword id="6354486" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Virat-Kohli">Virat Kohli</keyword>, Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami means he is the senior-most player in the side who has his own captaincy record standing against him. Raina has led in nine ODIs previously, out of which India have lost five - two of which came against Zimbabwe in a tri-series including Sri Lanka in 2010. Back then too, Raina was handed a relatively lesser experienced side. 
 
If one is to examine Raina's graph, his batting has taken a hit during captaincy. In his first series against West Indies in 2011, he averaged a shade over 20 and in the tri-series it was 27.66. He is yet to register a half-century in nine innings with a best of 43 and this is a perfect platform for the 27-year-old to prove his mettle as a leader. A lot will depend on how and where he bats. With an inexperienced line-up in picture, India would want its batting to revolve around him in order to provide resilience and if required, finish the game off for the side. 
 
One thing that is sure to help Raina is the fact that he is coming off another sublime IPL season. He had 523 runs from 16 games at 40.23 with five fifties, becoming the only batsman to score in excess of 400 runs in every edition of the tournament. India can also take heart from the fact that his pep talk with former India captain Sourav Ganguly has helped him deal with chest-high deliveries better. Raina looked fairly at ease in the World T20 and the IPL. 
 The equation in Bangladesh might sound more simple than it actually is. And in such circumstances, where Bangladesh will look forward to pulling off their biggest ever series win against the current ODI world champions, Raina's role becomes all the more crucial. His biggest challenge will be to decide the batting order which is relatively weakened with the exclusions of big names. Cheteshwar Pujara has played two ODIs in Zimbabwe - one was a fourth-ball duck and the other was an awkward 24-ball 13. With Ajinkya Rahane and <keyword id="6405247" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Robin-Uthappa">Robin Uthappa</keyword> likely to open the innings, Raina would fancy batting Pujara at No.3 with the rest to follow. 
 Rahane has 687 runs from 27 games, Uthappa 786 from 38, Ambati Rayadu 243 from 10 and the recalled <keyword id="13829" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Manoj-Tiwary">Manoj Tiwary</keyword> 251 from eight games. Apart from this, Wriddhiman Saha and Stuart Binny have batted just once for India in ODIs and Kedar Jadhav and Parvez Rasool haven't played yet. All this is far from an ideal scenario for Raina to mark his comeback into the 50-over fray. His bowling unit looks fragile too hence, a lot would be expected of Mohit Sharma (23 wickets from 16 games) and Umesh Yadav (11 wickets in 12 matches) based on successful IPL 7 stints. Amit Mishra too needs to come good and repeat his World T20 heroics. 
 
The task as hand is not as easy as it seems for the free-flowing left-handed batsman. A tour of England is around the corner and a good outing against Bangladesh could do Raina's confidence a world of good. Based on current form, Raina's place in the side seems safe at the moment but with the World Cup 2015 being the big picture, he surely is aware of the many capped and uncapped players that are waiting in the wings.

Raina's India Comeback Not As Easy As It Seems

India's fourth bilateral ODI series win at home by a 5-0 margin should be seen through the lens of the team's defence of the ICC World Cup next year, in specific the roles given to players either just finding their feet in international cricket or returning from injury or filling in for first-choice names. 
 
Make no mistake - Sri Lanka were very poor in the series, their bowlers in particular lining up as fodder for India's batsmen on mostly docile surfaces, and their batsmen, barring <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/angelo-mathews/9001/9058">Angelo Mathews</a> and to a lesser extent <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/mahela-jayawardene/9001/9003">Mahela Jayawardene</a>, massively under-performing. But in a World Cup season it is encouraging to see an experimental Indian side finish the job they started without losing much intensity. 
 
Through the series, <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/virat-kohli/4001/25007">Virat Kohli</a> spoke of taking each game of this series as a stepping stone towards the 2015 ICC World Cup, particularly in testing out players in different roles to give them the confidence that they are wholly supported with an eye on next year’s big prize. He spoke of the team taking each match as a knock-out, and of learning to be "ruthless" to close out matches. 
 
Sample the margins of victory: by 169 runs, six wickets with 33 balls remaining, six wickets with 35 balls remaining, 153 runs and three wickets with eight balls on Sunday in Ranchi. Four big wins, fashioned by performances from individuals and collectively against a side that looked disgruntled from the time it departed from Colombo following West Indies' abrupt pull-out. The one match in which the batting didn’t click as a unit, Kohli stepped up with one of his finest centuries in a chase. Where his team-mates failed to be ruthless, Kohli was. 
 
The 26-year-old, leading India in MS Dhoni's absence, did his job well. The decision to take the batting Powerplay in the 24th over during the first ODI proved decisive, for it was in that five-over period that his team took the match away from Sri Lanka. He backed <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/akshar-patel/4001/31051">Akshar Patel</a> to bowl during the mandatory and batting Powerplays and this was a huge factor in the series win, and backed his rookie spinner with the right fields. Kohli also ensured <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/ambati-rayudu/4001/31025">Ambati Rayudu</a> a spot at the World Cup by sending him in at No 3 in Ahmedabad, where the 29-year-old scored his maiden ODI century. 
 
Apart from his dynamic captaincy, Kohli also had a solid series with the bat, scoring 277 runs at an average of 69.25 with two fifties and a superb century to almost single-handedly chase 287 in the final game. Kohli's emphatic celebrations at hitting the winning six, with eight balls and three wickets left in Ranchi, and then as he acknowledged the crowd after picking up a stump, were stirring. Such form will, at the very least, send him to Australia with some confidence. 
 
India’s other main batsmen all scored runs, too. <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/shikhar-dhawan/4001/28004">Shikhar Dhawan</a> reeled off 283 in three innings before he was rested. Rayudu's four innings at No 3 produced 223 runs while <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/rohit-sharma/4001/4095">Rohit Sharma</a>'s roaring comeback from injury with an astonishing 264 off 173 balls should earn him first dibs as opener alongside Dhawan in the World Cup ahead of <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/ajinkya-rahane/4001/32045">Ajinkya Rahane</a>, who after stroking 111 in the series opener trailed off with scores of 8, 31, 28 and 2. The two wicketkeeper-batsmen tested in the series, <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/wriddhiman-saha/4001/30016">Wriddhiman Saha</a> for three ODIs and <keyword id="6405247" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Robin-Uthappa">Robin Uthappa</keyword> for the last two, did not make strong statements to tilt the selectors’ votes either way for the World Cup. 
 
There were personal bests for a few players, of which five look certain for the World Cup. <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/ishant-sharma/4001/4094">Ishant Sharma</a> beat his previous best returns with 4/34 in Cuttack; Rayudu scored his first ODI century in the second ODI; Akshar (3/40) and <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/umesh-yadav/4001/28013">Umesh Yadav</a> (4/53) achieved career-best bowling performances in Hyderabad; and <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/dhawal-kulkarni/4001/31006">Dhawal Kulkarni</a> smoothed over a shoddy outing in that match by taking 4/34 in the Kolkata drubbing. Rohit marked his first ODI in three months by scoring the highest individual innings in ODI history at Eden Gardens. 
 Rohit's freak innings aside, the big gains were the bowling of Akshar and the fact that Umesh, on the comeback from an injury break, did not break down or pick up a niggle. The rise of 20-year-old allrounder Akshar has been the story of the series. His left-arm spin accounted for 11 wickets in five matches, at an <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="economy">economy</keyword> rate of 4.61, and it was his bowling in the batting Powerplay all series that was instrumental in India’s 5-0 result. Akshar was unfortunate not be named Man of the Match in Hyderabad, where his 3/11 during the batting Powerplay sealed the series for India. 
 
Akshar controls the percentage shots and that ability resulted in some big wickets, and the manner in which he lands the ball outside off stump to bring out loose shots is a trait that could be very handy in Australia. Twenty20 cricket has forced spinners to experiment and Akshar is one of the best examples of how this can have a positive spin - no pun intended - because he varies his flight and pace without compromising too much on his length. He conceded over 40 just twice - at Eden Gardens where he conceded 51 in 43 balls and in Ranchi, where in the 48th of Sri Lanka's innings, Angelo Mathews swatted three sixes to give Akshar figures of 2/45 from his quota. His only two innings, at either ends of the series, were contrasting efforts that showed the value Akshar brings down the order: a four-ball 14 to get the total past 350 and 17 off 14 balls in match-clinching stand of 57 in 5.2 overs with Kohli. 
 
Akshar made rapid strides in the series, and the fact that <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/ravindra-jadeja/4001/32004">Ravindra Jadeja</a> was benched for the Cuttack and Hyderabad ODIs and bowled well after Akshar in Hyderabad is testament to Kohli's line of thought that fringe players need to feel that they belong. 
 
Umesh was quick and lively in each outing and consistently delivered breakthroughs in his first spell in all four games he played - three times in the first over of Sri Lanka’s innings, getting <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/kusal-perera/9001/52007">Kusal Perera</a> each time. He took at least two wickets in each match and finished with ten wickets at an economy of 5.07, and though he still has to work on conceding wides in the death overs, that Umesh hustled and troubled the Sri Lankan batsmen all throughout was encouraging. Considering Ishant injured himself in his return series, having Umesh fit and feisty is crucial to India in Australia. 
 
Ishant did not feature in the series after leaving the field following his four overs in Hyderabad, adding to the injury list that comprises <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/varun-aaron/4001/30019">Varun Aaron</a>, <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/mohammed-shami/4001/30030">Mohammed Shami</a> and <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/mohit-sharma/4001/26024">Mohit Sharma</a>. These are the frontline bowlers India will hope to have available for the World Cup, along with the rested <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/bhuvneshwar-kumar/4001/25023">Bhuvneshwar Kumar</a>. 
 
Injuries to Ishant and Aaron - themselves called up in the absence of the injured Shami and Mohit - opened up chances for Kulkarni and <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/stuart-binny/4001/31034">Stuart Binny</a> and both were decent without being threatening. Kulkarni does not have the pace to consistently worry batsmen and appears to be easily rattled, while Binny's medium pace does not look like getting him a berth in the World Cup squad considering that pace is a must in Australia and New Zealand. The only player blooded in the series who did not do anything was legspinner <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/karn-sharma/4001/27046">Karn Sharma</a>, who is part of the Test squad to play in Australia. 
 
All in all, a good workout for an experimental Indian side in these five ODIs but how much these matches actually matter will only be judged if these players step up in Australia.

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To Change Or Not To Change, That's The Question For Dhoni

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Raina's India Comeback Not As Easy As It Seems

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Kohli's Well-Oiled India Achieve Series Goals

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