India's takeaways on the road to the World Cup

The need for 'left' at the top

In a world where India has actively opted to bat aggressively through the 20 overs and has admitted to trying as much, Ishan Kishan makes an interesting case for himself in a top-order otherwise full of right-handers. He brings a favorable match-up against leg spinners and left-arm spinners, as he showed against Keshav Maharaj over the course of the series (67 runs off 25 balls).

His PowerPlay strike rate in this series might not align with India's ideas of going aggressive from the start, but he offers an excellent outlet for quick runs through the middle against spin. Though he's shown a weakness for balls outside the off-stump that can be exploited by left-arm quicks early in the innings, he's only been dismissed once in the PowerPlay - in the washed out fixture in Bengaluru. Kishan hit the most fours and sixes (21 and 11) in the series, and finds a place at fifth in the strike rate charts - the only opener in the top-five.

The one-drop question mark remains

Dravid has refused to read too much into performances in a single series, but perhaps Shreyas Iyer missed a golden chance to show his wares at No.3. With Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul expected to take the opening slots at the World Cup, Shreyas had the chance to leave his prints all over the #3 spot early - a position for which he will jostle with Virat Kohli.

Though Shreyas has also been a victim of trying to hit out in some tough batting conditions against South Africa, there are a couple of red flags - against pace and wrist spin - that dampen his case.

The extra bounce on offer in Australia and the bigger square boundaries will come as further hindrance for the top-order batter who has just not been able to get on top of rising deliveries.

Shreyas Iyer's struggles against pace in this series

Dinesh Karthik's resurgence is real

In a revealing analogy, Dravid said he asked his