Rahul Dravid: India was clear about No 4 and 5 batters 18 months in the past, accidents disrupted plans

India had locked its quantity 4 and quantity 5 slot for the ODI World Cup nearly 18 months in the past however accidents to 3 batters in fast succession threw a spanner in its works, coach Rahul Dravid mentioned on Tuesday.

Dravid mentioned that accidents to the likes of Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant pressured the workforce administration to check out different gamers within the middle-order in latest instances, and it was not experimenting only for the sake of it.

“The No 4 and 5 spots are discussed a lot and gives the impression that we didn’t have clarity that who is going to be there. I could have told you 18-19 months ago who the three candidates for the two spots were.

“It was always between Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant. There was not doubt,” Dravid mentioned at India’s pre-departure presser forward of the Asia Cup.

“It’s unfortunate that all three had injuries in the space of two months. What are the odds of that happening. All three guys pushing for those two spots, had serious injuries, had to go under the knife.

“So, you have to react to that, put other people in those positions and see who can do it. Just in case come a World Cup they are not fit. In that situation we tried a few people.”

The former Indian captain added, “This word (experimentation) keeps getting thrown around without being thought through. It’s not that we are experimenting for the sake of experimenting, sometimes there are specific reasons for it.”

While Pant continues to be out of motion after struggling a number of accidents in a horrific automotive accident on the Dehradun-Delhi freeway in December final yr, Iyer and Rahul harm their again and thigh in March and May respectively.

Also learn | KL Rahul to overlook Pakistan and Nepal Asia Cup 2023 matches: Dravid

Both Iyer and Rahul have recovered and are a part of India’s Asia Cup squad. However, Rahul will miss the primary two video games resulting from a niggle.

Iyer’s again harm flared up after the fourth Border-Gavaskar Test towards Australia in March. But the batter is ready to bolster the Indian middle-order on the Asia Cup and World Cup.

“He has looked good. It’s now about us giving him game time. Hopefully, we can give him that at the Asia Cup and build him up for the World Cup. He has ticked all the boxes in this camp, batted a lot and fielded,” Dravid mentioned.

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna made a comeback after lengthy harm layoffs and the coach is delighted to have extra quick bowling choices at his disposal.

“It’s great to have them back and see them bowling well. Jasprit is someone we have missed a lot in the past two years he hasn’t played much. We will ease him into it slowly.

“Ireland was a good opportunity to ease him in. Now we have a whole month to build that up before the World Cup. The duo’s return gives us more options in the pace bowling department.”

Home benefit considerably diminished in sub-continent

The former India skipper feels house benefit has considerably diminished for the sub-continent groups on condition that abroad gamers at the moment are higher geared up to navigate the Indian situations due to their IPL expertise.

“The whole thing of home advantage at sub-continent has reduced to a large extent over the past 10-12 years. People come and play here so much, especially tournaments like the IPL. They are here for two-three months getting used to conditions. It will be a tight tournament.”