India may have claimed the T20I series against Australia 2-1, but concerns remain, the biggest of which is the middle order according to former all-rounder Tom Moody. India did well to bounce back from the ODI defeat to win three limited-overs games in a row, but lack of runs from No. 3, 4 and 5 left it to the likes of Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli to finish things off for India.
Moody feels India’s middle order needs addressing, especially in the T20 format, and the one who can be a fruitful addition is Rishabh Pant. Although Pant’s lack of consistency shoved him out of India’s limited-overs formats, Moody believes the time to invest on the 23-year-old is now more than ever. He last played T20 for India in January 2020.
“The concern for me is the middle order for India. I still feel that needs some addressing. I still feel that Pant for me is the answer. What he can do very few can do. So I think time to invest in him is very important,” Moody said on ESPNCricinfo.
Weighing in on India’s biggest takeaways of the series, besides T Natarajan, Moody was glad to see the return of Hardik Pandya to the grand stage. Prior to this series, Pandya had not played international cricket in more than a year and to return in the manner he did, Moody felt, was incredible.
“Hardik Pandya has launched himself as a world-class finisher. And that’s not even including the fact that he can bowl when he’s fit. There are very far and few between. It’s a role that every team is trying to find and seek. He’s the very best in the world. What we’ve seen over the last two years here is that Pandya has pushed himself up in that space,” he said.
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Moody was impressed with Shikhar Dhawan’s form as well, saying the left-handed opener has established himself as the ‘front-runner’ for India’s opening slot in T20Is. “Shikhar Dhawan has clearly made himself the front-runner for that opening slot if there’s an issue with the combination of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul,” he said.
”They are obviously the first pick but there was probably going into this series a question mark as to who can be that person. Shikhar to me is head and shoulders above the rest.”