There were two clear differences in the Indian team's approach from the Twenty20 internationals, and both come down to clear thinking. First Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the best batsman in ODIs for over a year, batted higher up the order. Second, it was Praveen Kumar, a specialist bowler, opening in the absence of Ishant Sharma, and in place of Irfan Pathan, who on current form is neither here nor there. Both should have occurred long ago, and both paid off today.
Dhoni will have to play, by choice, the role Brendon McCullum played for New Zealand in the Twenty20s by default, as a result of what he felt was mediocre form. The task involves swallowing the batsman's ego, and McCullum did that perfectly in the first two games. Nudging and edging he kept one end up, allowing the other big hitters to make merry. This Indian team has two obvious candidates for that role now - Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar, and to an extent Gautam Gambhir. It's not a question of form, but they have shown the aptitude, and the team needs at least two such batsmen to allow the likes of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina have a free hand."
