Pandey makes his case in India's middle-order

Had the system of acquiring a few players on loan existed in international cricket, Sri Lanka may not have had to look too far and could have immediately turned to their neighbour for help. It's treasure trove of resources with players in abundance and more in the pipeline if the words of chief selector MSK Prasad are anything to go by.

"We have 22 to 25 players. We will be rotating them and we will see how they progress. After a certain period of time, we will keep on shortlisting so that we can focus on them at least eight months to one year leading up to the World Cup," Prasad had said before the start of India's ODI series against Sri Lanka.

In the middle order alone, there are several options for India. KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey and Hardik Pandya are some of the players who have been used in the middle order in this series and there are plenty of other options to choose from if the current 'A' team regulars like Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant are considered for India's stretch of limited-overs matches in the coming months.

Ajinkya Rahane too was a middle-order option as Virat Kohli had indicated during the West Indies series that he is a potential floater in the batting order. However, during the Sri Lanka ODI series, Kohli stressed that Rahane's position is that of a third opener. Still, choices are aplenty, and they also include Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik - out of the team at the present but as Prasad said, "doors are never closed on anybody."

With a stockpile of supplies available for the middle order, the Sri Lanka series was a good opportunity for the likes of Rahul and Jadhav to set the tone and cement their spots. However, their repeated failures and the inability to pick Akila Dananjaya resulted in a flurry of wickets in the last three games. But Pandey made the most of his opportunity in the fourth ODI, scoring an unbeaten 42-ball 50 to help India finish with a mammoth total of 375.

The penultimate ODI against Sri Lanka was Pandey's first game for India in nearly 10 months - poor form during the ODI series against New Zealand in October 2016 pushing him out of the reckoning for a while and a side strain sustained in the IPL ruling him out of the Champions Trophy and the West Indies tour. However, he worked hard on his comeback, scoring consistently for the India A side in the triangular series against South Africa A and Afghanistan A, expediting his return to the Indian limited-overs set-up.

He was only dismissed once in the five innings he played in South Africa, topping the run-scoring chart with 307 runs at an average of 307 with three half-centuries, making it hard for the selectors to overlook him. The spin option that Jadhav brought to the table made it difficult for Pandey to slot in straightaway at the start of the series, but he waited for his time while displaying solidity in the net sessions. Session after session, be it mandatory or the optional ones, Pandey's presence continued as did his impressive stints in the nets that weren't missed by the watchful eyes of the chief coach Ravi Shastri. Even Kohli tried his hand at wrist spin in the last net session, probably to accommodate Pandey's selection in the eleven as he was making all the right noises in the lead up to this series.

"I have played some games in South Africa and I have batted the way I have been batting. It definitely does really help a lot when you know that you have some runs on the back. You will eventually get a chance in the ODI side and you have to wait patiently for the chance and just bat the way you have been batting. So definitely that tournament in South Africa helped me a lot," said Pandey, acknowledging that the series in South Africa did him a word of good.

But the question of where Pandey would feature in the batting order remained and numbers five or six were the only options available considering that Rahul was designated to bat higher than him. Having batted at No. 4 for the major part of his ODI career, Pandey was moved down the order in the ODIs against New Zealand and he encountered a few failures. But in his last two games in South Africa, Pandey batted at No. 5, which perhaps helped him adapt the the No. 6 role that he was assigned for the fourth ODI.

"Middle order is where I bat - starting from No. 4 to No. 6 I have batted for India. I have to be ready for whatever spot I get. So if I get a chance then I need to get some runs and cement that spot for myself and then if you keep performing and you keep playing better, then maybe you come one up in the order. So that will be my goal to fix a spot or two for myself and stay there and win games for India," said Pandey, setting his sights on a continued run in India's middle order.

Before the series had started, Pandey had conceded that he was willing to play the waiting game when it came to opportunities with the Indian side. "It's part of the game, that's what you do (wait for your opportunity) and I've played the waiting game really well so far and it's okay for me," Pandey had said. But he also stressed that he would make every opportunity count, which he did in the fourth ODI. While his Karnataka mate - Rahul - is still finding his way around the middle order, Pandey seems to have a good grip on it at the moment. It's how firm he sustains that grip that'll determine the 27-year-old's standing in India's scheme of things for the future.