Since the 2019 World Cup, India have lost bilateral ODI series’ in New Zealand (2020), Australia (2020), South Africa (2022), New Zealand (2022) and now, in Bangladesh. With injuries mounting, players needing rest and the focus understandably elsewhere, one-dayers were just making up the numbers on tours for a considerable time. And so till October, the ODI defeats escaped the usual scrutiny because India were in the churn of two T20 World Cup cycles.

With India set to host the ODI World Cup in just over 10 months’ time, the scenario has changed though. And just when India were about to make a transition of format came another deflating series defeat to Bangladesh. Lack of personnel is a legitimate gripe but it remains to be seen if India’s one-day batting can do anything different from the T20 version.

Recent numbers are not encouraging though India may have to be given the benefit of doubt as they didn’t have KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in New Zealand. While they joined the squad in Bangladesh, Rishabh Pant’s sudden release just before the series began and Sharma’s thumb injury in the second ODI probably threw India off track.

It wasn’t surprising, thus, to hear head coach Rahul Dravid still pinning hope on getting a full squad at his disposal.

“I guess from our perspective, it has not been easy to play,” said Dravid after the second ODI defeat on Wednesday. “We don’t have a full squad. Hopefully, from January, depending on injuries, we will get a full squad to play the home series. We have nine ODIs before IPL and hopefully, we will get to play a settled squad in those games,” he said. Beginning January 3, India are set to play against Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia.

Playing more one-dayers, in extension, should correct a few T20 habits. Like in the second ODI, when Mohammed Siraj ended up conceding eight dots trying to go for the maximum when he should have ideally tried to give the strike to Sharma. Despite India’s overall high batting average, their lower-order batting has been an area of concern in recent years. Since January 2021, India average 15.84 runs for the batting positions 8-11, behind Sri Lanka (21), England (20.19), Australia (17.84), Bangladesh (17.70) and New Zealand (15.95). That lack of intent was clearly visible in Wednesday’s loss.

This and more should be on the management’s radar as they sit down to chalk out plans for a format they are clearly not in sync with. “In the last two years, we had prioritised T20s a lot as there were two World Cups,” said Dravid. “In the next 8-10 months, we will be prioritising ODI cricket. It is not easy to juggle three formats.”