Rahul KLass apart

The middle-order wicketkeeper-batter has quietly become the vital cog of the Indian set up in the World Cup

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

MS DHONI. Dhoni. Dhoni. Dhoni. Kedar Jadhav. Hardik Pandya. Pandya. Pandya. Dinesh Karthik. India began the 2019 World Cup with an established No. 5 in Dhoni. By the time the semifinal came around, they had reduced that position to a carousel. In testing conditions, Karthik was essentially used as a shield in the against New Zealand. It predictably backfired.

While some level of flexibility is welcome in the middle-order, using four different players across nine matches in 2019 betrayed a sense of being unsure. That state of flux was extended to the No. 4 as well (there were four No. 4's used across the nine innings as well). They began the tournament with KL Rahul in that position. They finished with him as an opener while Rishabh Pant, who didn't start the tournament, finished it as No. 4. In between, they also played Vijay Shankar and Hardik in that role as the linkman between the top and the middle-order.