Team India head coach Rahul Dravid has shut down the critics over their comments on India’s too much experimentation going into the all-important ODI World Cup on home soil. The Rohit Sharma-led side will look to end their long-awaited ICC title drought after 10 long years.
The Men in Blue has struggled with a spate of injuries in recent months, which include Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and Prasidh Krishna, as the team management is trying to find a few new players, who can be backups in the India squad for the ODI World Cup in home soil.
Speaking to the media ahead of the Asia Cup, Rahul Dravid opened up about India’s different tactics on their road to the ODI World Cup in India and revealed that the management is not doing these things for a namesake, as the team has dealt with injuries to their key players in last year or so.
Dravid revealed that the team was looking at Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer as the realistic option in the middle order, which was dealt with a blow due to their injuries in a shorter period.
“To be very honest with you, this word experimentation gets thrown around a lot without actually sometimes being thought through, It’s not that we are trying to sometimes experiment for the sake of experimenting. Sometimes there are specific reasons why you have to do certain things.”
“Just to give you an example, the No. 4 and 5 spots seem to get discussed and talked about a lot.
“It gives the impression that we don’t have clarity on who was going to be there, but to be very honest with you, I could have told you 18 or 19 months ago the top two-three candidates we were looking at for the No. 4, 5 slots. It was always going to be Shreyas [Iyer], KL [Rahul], and Rishabh [Pant] for those spots, right?” Rahul Dravid said.
Rahul Dravid has not really witnessed a very successful tenure so far. Under his tutelage, India lost the Test series in South Africa as well as lost another Test in England and the team had a poor campaign in the 2022 Asia Cup, 2022 T20 World Cup, and the 2023 WTC Final.
Team India has been blown hot and cold in all three formats failing to produce an impactful performance in the ICC events as their last trophy came in the 2013 Champions Trophy and they will be highly motivated to put on a show in the Asia Cup and ODI World Cup later this year.