Preview: It's a dead rubber but the 3rd ODI is India's last chance to firm up Champions Trophy plans

After the win in Cuttack, Virat Kohli claimed that his team was only “performing at 75% potential” in the first two matches. It is easy to see why the Indian skipper felt so after yet another bilateral one-day series win over England at home.

Kohli only just assumed charge of the limited-overs team, and it looked in a pretty bad shape with three matches to play before the Champions Trophy in England.

English fans would feel that the opposition took victory in a canter, but the truth is India were made to work hard in both matches so far. The wins in Pune and Cuttack, though, turned out to be comprehensive with India’s main weakness – the middle-order – coming good in scoring 356 and 381 in successive innings.

Yuvraj’s key role

The inclusion of Yuvraj Singh played a key role herein. First, it has provided definitive shape to the batting line-up. Earlier, it bore an inexperienced look, with Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya surrounding MS Dhoni. There was fluidity to the order, in the sense that Dhoni would move up and down sensing the nerve of the situation.

He had to play both the anchor and enforcer, entrusted forever more with the responsibility of dragging the side across the finishing line in either scenario. The haphazard batting displays in the five-match series against New Zealand are a marker to this. Perhaps, it made an already tough task even more difficult for Dhoni, and given his gradually waning batting prowess, he needed additional cover.

With Yuvraj at No. 4 then, Dhoni bats at five, with Jadhav and Pandya to follow later on. It has looked a fixed system, irrespective of the number of overs left to play. In both Pune and Cuttack, a sizeable number remained when India went two-down early on. Yuvraj’s familiarity with such situations allows Dhoni to drop down without the dressing room losing its sense of calm. Sure, the win in Pune was down to Jadhav’s blinder of an innings, but this formula was tested for real in Cuttack and the selectors’ move to fall back on experience paid dividends as both experienced hands rolled back the years.

“It is a remarkable comeback, and down to Yuvraj’s dedication,” said former national selector Saba Karim. “He has worked immensely on his fitness and a tough regime has borne fruit for him. It is the sole reason why he has been able to find success on his return to the side.”

Karim was part of Sandeep Patil’s selection panel – before MSK Prasad and his colleagues assumed charge – and the five wise men recalled/dropped Yuvraj on quite a few occasions. Almost a year ago, they had included him in the Twenty20 side to tour Australia, and he enjoyed a superlative run in the shortest format until the World T20. They had also left him out from the ODI set-up in December 2013, as preparations started in earnest for the 2015 World Cup.

“Both those decisions were based on his fitness. In 2013, we felt that he was really struggling on the field, and his form was an indicator of the same. And we were about 15 months away from the World Cup, so we looked ahead. The benchmark for us was fitness again, for this has been the mantra of the Indian side in limited-overs cricket for quite a few years now,” said Karim.

“It is easy to see that the current regime has taken it up quite seriously as well. [Head coach] Anil Kumble, Virat and the selectors want players to prove themselves fit in domestic matches before they can be called up to the national team. For this purpose, the selectors even spoke to many players – young and old both – outlining plans for them. Yuvraj is just part of that evolution,” he added.

Long-term selection

His words underline a vital aspect herein. When Kohli assumed full-time captaincy, and Dhoni stepped aside, it was seen as a progressive step in building towards the next World Cup. Yet, the time frame – as compared to the marker put down by Karim’s panel before 2015 – is still greater. With the tournament to be played in the English summer in 2019, there are a good two-plus years left.

No wonder then, at the time of Yuvraj’s inclusion the selectors were at pain to explain if this was a long-term selection. While it is now obvious that he has been brought back keeping the Champions Trophy in mind, the possibility of him going to the 2019 World Cup cannot be over-ruled either.

That, however, is a decision for later even if it means that Manish Pandey will have to wait a tad longer for his next consistent run of games. In this regard, the Indian team management has always followed the policy of don’t-mend-what-is-not-broken. With only one last ODI to play until June, they will not want to disturb the middle order, or even the bowling combination.

The only expected change for India in this dead rubber at Kolkata is Ajinkya Rahane coming in for Shikhar Dhawan. The latter’s poor form – and confidence – necessitates this move. However, reports also suggest that he has suffered a recurrence of an injury to his left hand, sustained during the New Zealand Test series. He has not been ruled out officially, however.