India may have come out the happier of the two sides after the fifth one-dayer of the Carlton Mid tri-series in Sydney was rained out but during the 16 overs on Monday, the glaring questions that hovered over their top-order turned into massive headaches.With the bowlers showing that they could be a big problem, India already had their plates full ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup. Two of the four batsmen who were lucky or unlucky to bat in the penultimate league game only added to the problems today, leaving MS Dhoni and Co. with big decisions to make.Shikhar Dhawan has contributed little next to nothing in three ODIs while Ambati Rayudu seems all at sea about his role in the side. Both failed in testing conditions on Monday, adding more substance to questions about their spots.Having invited India to bat on a morning marred by rain, Australia bowled 16 overs before bad weather forced the umpires to call the game off. The teams were robbed off match practice but split points meant India kept alive their chances of progressing to the next stage and playing Australia in the final. Their game against England on January 30 will now be a virtual semifinal.Just over an hour's play was possible in Sydney, but it was enough to compound the defending World Cup champions' woes.Shikhar Dhawan understandably took a cautious approach and picked runs when the bowlers erred in line. However, his vigil lasted only 13 deliveries. Dhawan is now becoming concomitant with edging behind the stumps. The left-hander, once again, flirted with a delivery outside off-stump and edged it to first slip. Scores of 2, 1 and 8 are not what India would have hoped for from a batsman who is expected to replicate Virender Sehwag's blazing approach.Dhawan's scores before the tri-series read 91, 79 and 113. Three successive failures doesn't necessarily mean a batsman is woefully out of form but Dhawan looks a mere shadow of the player he has been. His confidence has taken a battering and, against quality opposition in overseas conditions, he has become a liability.Unlike Ajinkya Rahane or Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan cannot be moved down the order and that could work against the 29-year-old. Add to this, Dhawan's form when India visited New Zealand early last year (32, 12, 28, 9) and it becomes clear why Dhawan is everyone's favourite for the axe.The other aspect that has made India's World Cup build up all the more irksome is their inability to figure out what to do with Rayudu. The fact that Virat Kohli