India has narrowed down on ‘17-18 players’ for ODI World Cup 2023: Dravid

India males’s staff head coach Rahul Dravid has mentioned the brains belief has narrowed down on “17-18” gamers for the ODI World Cup at dwelling, to be performed in October-November this 12 months. “We are clear about the team we want to play (at the World Cup), and hopefully, we can give the guys we have zeroed in on as many opportunities as we can, at home and away,” Dravid mentioned on the eve of India’s ODI sequence decider in opposition to Australia on the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.

India has performed 53 ODIs for the reason that 2019 World Cup, and due to both accidents or workload administration, the suppose tank has needed to check out a plethora of gamers. But with the World Cup now simply six months away, Dravid emphasised that the main focus might be on giving these “in the mix” a long term.

“Some players are still recovering from injuries and will come back depending on the time frame of recovery. But within that pool, we want to have different combinations because it (World Cup) is a big tournament, we are in nine cities and nine different conditions during the league stage. So, whether we want four pacers or three spinners .. within the squad, we would like to look at different conditions and test different combinations so that we aren’t surprised by anything at the World Cup,” Dravid mentioned.

India is enjoying solely 42 ODIs within the new FTP (2023-2027) – the second-fewest among the many 12 Full Members and has a restricted variety of ODIs to flesh out its World Cup plan, with the Indian Premier League (March-May) and World Test Championship ultimate (June) set to maintain the core of the upcoming World Cup squad busy.

Dravid weighed in on the difficulty. “We are guided by the schedule. It’s hectic as it is, and it’s hard to add games to it. Right after the IPL, around that time, it’s our monsoon season, our off-season, so we won’t get too many ODIs in our conditions, but we are clear about the squad,” he mentioned.

Dravid additionally dismissed considerations concerning the Indian batting, which has now regarded wobbly in two back-to-back ODIs. “I think the Mumbai pitch was challenging, but the last one wasn’t a 117 wicket. That said, we’ve done well as a batting unit the last year or so, especially in white-ball cricket. We have put up some big scores in ODIs as well. Occasionally, these things (collapses) can happen. Mitchell Starc has bowled well, so credit to him. We need to find a way to get through that first spell of play and not lose too many wickets up front.”