So the Indian Premier League extravaganza is over and sanity prevails in International cricketers. Cricketers from all round the world are now back in their own countries and all the teams will be gearing up for the upcoming series.

India always play a lot of cricket and they have long deserving break. Players can now relax after some intense series and can enjoy the break that they have got. Indian cricket has been going through a tough period as they have had three bad series since their World Cup win. They were outplayed in both England and Australia and didn’t make it to the finals of the Asia Cup; they even lost the one-off T20 against South Africa.
Indian captain MS Dhoni, who is enjoying his stint with the Indian Army, has a lot to think in the coming two months. India will play their next Test match against New Zealand in the last week of August and the team management has a lot to think about before the series begin. Let’s have a look at some of the areas that will be keeping MS Dhoni very late up in the night.

Getting the correct batting order: Indian batting great Rahul Dravid announced his retirement and with that India have lost one of the world’s best number three batsmen of all time. Indian batting struggled in the last three Test series that they played abroad and one should remember that it was Dravid’s century that won India the only Test match that they won in West Indies. Dhoni will need to find a replacement for him and that would not be easy. New Zealand is not a tough team and India have always been dominating in the sub-continent, but India should be looking to find a player who can bat permanently on that important spot. Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara are the prime contenders and they should get a fair chance at that spot.

Selecting the best pace bowlers: Indian bowling has been their major weakness in the past couple of series. Barring Zaheer Khan no other bowler has bowled consistently. Umesh Yadav bowled some good spells in Australia but was wayward in some spells. Indian bowlers failed in to pick wickets in seamer-friendly conditions in both Australia and England and there was  number of changes that were made in the fast bowling department. India desperately needs a settled pace bowling pack.

Selecting the right spinner in the team: R Ashwin has replaced Harbhajan Singh in the team and it looked the right move till the time Ashwin bowled in foreign conditions. He was very effective in India, but was ordinary in Australia. He looked lost against some good players of spin and went for runs. He couldn’t even manage to bowl six balls on line and paid for his inconsistency. India has always relied very heavily on their spinners and they need a spinner who can bowl well outside the sub-continent, because in India almost all the Indian spinners do well.

Getting his old flair back as a captain: MS Dhoni was flat as a captain in India’s tour in England and Australia. He failed to react to the situation and waited for the opposition to make mistakes. Dhoni needs to improve his batting as well because he hasn’t made any mark as a Test batsman off late. From the team selection to the bowling changes, Dhoni has struggled to make the right calls in the recent past. India will pay a weak side and they need to get the maximum out of them.