Rest & reign Mahendra Singh Dhoni

The series is in the bag, won so comprehensively that pundits can’t stop singing paeans on Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team. The scoreline reads 4-0 in India’s favour and Dhoni wants the series against England to finish at 7-0. This spells bad news for Kevin Pietersen, whose side hasn’t hit the straps since arriving in the country. India’s current position of strength presents a fine opportunity for the team think-tank to give some tired legs rest and replace them with fresher players. “You will see a few changes in the side in the next three matches,” Dhoni said.

Immediately, Virat Kohli, Irfan Pathan and Pragyan Ojha come into the picture. Kohli has played five ODIs and has opened in all of them. An attacking player, Kohli can fit into the side if either Gautam Gambhir or Virender Sehwag need a break. Kohli also plays for Delhi and he shouldn’t have any problems teaming up with the either of them.

Throwing Ojha into the ring would be a brave move. The left-arm spinner will present England with more worries in addition to Harbhajan Singh’s off-spin.

With much hullabaloo surrounding the dropping of RP Singh for Irfan, it would be silly for Dhoni not to pick the all-rounder, who has also been among the wickets in the domestic circuit. The inclusion of Irfan will give Zaheer Khan an opportunity to take some much-needed rest and come out fresh for the two-Test series that starts on December 11. Zaheer, along with Ishant Sharma, has provided India with the most potent opening attack in over a decade and the team can’t risk injury to either of these pacemen. It wouldn’t be too bad an idea to give them some more rest.

Also it waits to be seen if the selectors and Dhoni are ready to experiment further for the 6th and 7th ODIs. If fringe players, like Mohammad Kaif, Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Vijay or Pradeep Sangwan make the cut then the rotation policy would truly be in full swing. What will be interesting to see is whether Dhoni decides to take a break keeping in mind that he will have to play in the Champions League. However, it will be vital that any rotation or experimentation doesn’t come at the cost of India losing the momentum going into the two-Test series.