Mumbai, Jan. 17 -- India have lost four of the last eight ODIs, playing nothing like the team that delivered strong back-to-back showings in ICC events. It's not about the results alone; bilaterals can be used as trials in a world event cycle. But a growing list of loose ends in India's ODI blueprint is more concerning, which could crumble further if not fixed soon. Depending on how the series decider in Indore goes, India may be forced to take some tough calls. The elephant in the room is Ravindra Jadeja, with his 3D skills having diminished. The top fieldsmen missing a straight forward direct hit in a crucial juncture in the Rajkot ODI against New Zealand may have been symbolic. Jadeja, now, has a rival in Axar Patel. His diminishing returns with the bat in the lower order haven't gone unnoticed either. The spin all-rounder has picked up only one wicket in the last five matches in the home season. Go further back to the Champions Trophy and his wickets tally remains limited to 6 wickets in his last 10 matches. Spinners, like fast bowlers, operate in tandem. Jadeja's struggle for wickets mattered less in the Champions Trophy as he was the third spinner there. On considerably slower Dubai pitches, Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy did most of the damage. Of late, in India, opposing batters have been able to tackle Jadeja and that has impacted Kuldeep's incisiveness. Daryll Mitchell and Will Young came with a solid gameplan and their calculated risks, completely negated the Indian spin duo. "We couldn't pick up any wickets in the middle overs. With five fielders outside, even if we have 15-20 more runs, it becomes difficult," India captain Shubman Gill said. "I thought we could have been braver with the ball in the middle overs." "He's probably been a bit light on wickets of late. But it's not a concern," India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate spoke in Jadeja's defence. "The things we've looked at in terms of his pace that he's bowling, the things we've asked him to work on, I feel he is actually bowling better. So, hopefully the wickets will follow." The other shortcoming that crippled India's run defence in Rajkot was not being able to get enough out of Nitish Reddy. The sixth bowler just making up the numbers has become a recurring theme. Before he got injured, Washington Sundar, in the previous series against South Africa, was ineffective in dew-hit conditions. Hardik Pandya's shoes are too big to fill and with him being injury-prone India would want to spread the net wide to find an able back-up. With Reddy, the management is beginning to lose faith. "When he gets game time, he often ends up not getting a heck of a lot in the game," ten Doeschate admitted. "For someone who's making their way, particularly with the bat, tonight (in Rajkot), it was that perfect chance where you're walking in that situation and you've got a chance to spend 15 overs at the wicket. You really have to take those chances to push your case to be selected." With the ODI team, performances of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will constantly attract the gaze. Both have shown they have a stomach for a fight by returning from a break in style to show their choice of sticking to one international format is workable. But like Rohit's twin failures in the ongoing series show, being consistent won't come easy in his start-play-stop-start routine. Ten Doeschate attributed Rohit's dismissals against New Zealand - twice trying to clear the infield on the off-side - to what he called "new ball wickets" played on in Vadodara and Rajkot. "Over a short period of time if you take the first ODI, he's (Rohit) not been as fluent as he has been and that's going to be a challenge for him, not playing cricket between series," he said. "He's such a brutal player, but he's actually a touch player at the end of the day. He times the ball. So as soon as the wickets aren't very good, it's going to be difficult for him to look in fluent mode like he normally is. He's definitely not the sort of guy to play for himself. It's just a combination of the wickets being slightly difficult and maybe just being a little bit short on cricket leading into the series." Last year in Australia, in his first outing after a long interval, Rohit encountered much more testing seaming pitches and saw one of the great new ball spells from Josh Hazlewood out at Adelaide, with a bit of luck. That luck has deserted him in the current series. To find the balance between hitting the right tempo and delivering a volume of runs, the former Indian captain needs all the luck and a well calibrated approach, all year round....