For a change, not many changes are needed in the Indian XI, or rather, none at all. Most of it is in place. I do hope they
don't change the pace unit, which is actually doing well. Umesh and Shami are bowling fast, getting good bounce, and good returns, while Mohit seems to be in the form of his life here in Australia. Let's hope they don't spoil that by getting in Binny (bit of a seam-up bowler and no more) or Bucky (less than a wicket a match in the last 12 months) in place of one of them.
What needs to be worked on, though, is spin bowling. Again, we're seeing batsmen build partnerships on the soft spin unit, although Ashwin is still providing cover against set batsmen and in the final overs. Jadeja, on the other hand, isn't much good when the cover is taken off, and the recent game against Zim shows that. He's the only one who's got poor figures after six games, although they've been swinging wildly with each game, at least with the ball. Both had a wake-up call, and as assured players in the XI, they need to tighten up, or rather, chip away more. Already Ashwin is chipping away more than a few.
With the bat, Jadders has been as productive as a typical Indian tailender. Ashwin has helped build partnerships with prominent batsmen, but never taken the lead. The Indians need to keep their top six intact for every game that follows, so that the bottom five isn't exposed. They're not quite there with their choice of all-rounder.
Keeping the top six intact will be tough with a soft spot at the top of the order. Rohit Sharma continues to struggle, with strike rate and big innings. That, in turn, has affected the top order partnerships, and one look at
this chart will tell you they're running the wrong combination. A top-order failure is almost assured here, but the last game provided a serious scare, because they lost Kohli and Rahane too, and way too early. They need to swap places of Rohit and Rahane before it's too late- and they're not moving heaven and earth by doing that, as the Rahane-Dhawan combination is far more successful over the last year, and has also played more.