Why does Pakistan’s best batsman come in at No 5?

On the face of it, the two statements seem contradictory. Sanjay Manjrekar, one of India’s most thinking cricketers, says the seniors i...

On the face of it, the two statements seem contradictory. Sanjay Manjrekar, one of India’s most thinking cricketers, says the seniors in the Indian team should be challenged by new faces. Harbhajan Singh argues that the same players who flopped against Pakistan took India to the final of the World Cup.

In fact, both statements make sense. One-day cricket is a young man’s game but there is room for experience. The trick is knowing which to use where. The seniors need to be challenged — but not necessarily by bringing in new faces. They could be thrown a challenge by being shuffled in the batting order.

The bottom line, as statistics prove, is that the Indian one-day team needs fresh ideas; a new device to crack the 100 overs code. That could be a blend of attacking batsmen at the top and lower down at six and seven. The more important role of holding the innings together can be done by the seniors in the middle.

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And India can take their cue from Pakistan. Their finest batsman is Inzamam, with more than 10,000 runs in the abridged version. So why does the best batsman in the side walk in at number five? Shouldn’t he be batting in the top three, as he did some time ago?

The answer lies in his age. At 35, the Pakistani skipper knows he’s not getting any quicker between the wickets, neither is his stamina on the rise. What Inzamam does for his side is finish games by staying at the crease for a good part of 20-25 overs — and making them count.

Despite coming down the order from 3 to 5, Inzamam’s average hasn’t suffered — a healthy 42.5 at five and 40 overall — nor has his contribution to the team. If not for his knock at Ahmedabad the course of the one-day series would have been different.

It’s interesting to look at his stats. In 343 matches, Inzamam has just 10 centuries; but his 80 fifties are the most ever one-day cricket. And in ODIs that’s what makes the difference.

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So if the course of one-day cricket on batting tracks suggests that the first 15 overs need pyrotechnics, no problem. India has enough firepower in Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni to provide the thrust at the top of the order. The corollary — as Pakistan proved to great effect in India — is that you need stability, with brisk scoring, in the next 25 overs. Enter the old hands.

Moving Tendulkar down the order would also make best use of his changing batting style. As his body refuses to follow his natural aggression, he could serve India better by finishing games. He will have fewer overs to play and more of a chance to guide India till the end. He has time and again set up matches for India; he can now finish some off.

The one-day team still needs Sourav Ganguly; he has been India’s finest one-day batsman over the past five years and the best left-handed batsman ever. But Ganguly must find new tools to survive in the one-day game.

Uni-dimensional players are of little value in the fast-paced one-day circus. So Ganguly will need to bowl much more than he does and work harder than he ever has on his fielding (though there isn’t much scope for that happening so late in his career).

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No problems with Rahul Dravid’s fitness; he could still continue to bat at number three or four, depending on the situation.

Another problem for India is how to utilise Mohammad Kaif. The seven-batsmen formula must now be dropped with the advent of MS Dhoni, though he must not be used willy-nilly at number three. Kaif comes in too late; he needs to play the crucial role of batting in the middle overs, ensuring that there is no collapse and the scoreboard ticks away at a consistent pace.