As the World Cup approaches, the focus is on fine-tuning the team and ensuring that players are in the best possible form and positions for the tournament.

• Opening Conundrum: Considering Kishan’s successful outing as an opener against West Indies, pairing him with Rohit Sharma at the top could mean Shubman Gill may have to step down or take the No. 3 role.
• Kohli’s Position: The No. 4 spot could be secured by Virat Kohli, while the No. 5 slot becomes a choice between Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma.
• Ishan’s Placement: A probable alignment could see Ishan Kishan playing at No. 5, with Rohit and Gill as openers and Kohli maintaining his No. 3 position.
• Returning Contender: Shreyas Iyer, making a comeback, could potentially reclaim the No. 4 position.

As India gears up to face Pakistan, these strategic considerations bring forth intriguing possibilities and underline the challenges the team management must navigate.

India’s head coach, Rahul Dravid, defended the team management’s decision to rest skipper Rohit Sharma and experienced batter Virat Kohli for the second ODI against West Indies in Barbados last Saturday. Despite the move, the West Indies secured a six-wicket victory, leveling the series at 1-1 before the decisive match in Tarouba.

Addressing the media after the defeat, Dravid explained the rationale behind the selection strategy. He emphasized the need to assess the capabilities of fringe players like Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav ahead of the upcoming Asia Cup and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup later in the year.

“We had the last chance to try out some of our players,” Dravid said. “With injuries to some players currently in the NCA, we are running out of time before the Asia Cup. We can’t take any chances and have to give others opportunities to play.”

He further highlighted the challenging batting conditions in Bridgetown and expressed the team’s need for players to anchor the innings until the end. Despite Ishan Kishan’s impressive half-century at the top of the order, Samson and Suryakumar couldn’t capitalize on their chances.

While the decision to rest key players may have raised eyebrows, Dravid emphasized the importance of providing opportunities to other players and assessing their potential for crucial upcoming tournaments.

In a recent statement, Rahul Dravid, the coach of the Indian cricket team, expressed his views on the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia. Dravid emphasized that dismissing Australia’s David Warner requires more than just employing the tactics used by England’s Stuart Broad during the 2019 Ashes.

David Warner has been a remarkable opening batsman of his generation, amassing 8,158 runs at an impressive average of 45.57, including 25 centuries, in 103 Test matches. However, heading into the WTC final and the subsequent five-match Ashes series, Warner has only managed to score a single century in his last 32 innings and has a mediocre record in England.

During the Ashes series in England four years ago, which ended in a 2-2 draw, Warner struggled with an average of less than 10 and fell victim to Stuart Broad seven times, often dismissed while Broad bowled from around the wicket to exploit the left-hander’s weaknesses.

Speaking to reporters at the Oval before the WTC final, Dravid acknowledged Warner’s class as a player and stated that getting him out is not as simple as just adopting Broad’s tactics. Dravid remarked, “He wouldn’t have played a hundred times if it was that simple.” He further added that every batsman has their strengths and weaknesses, and although Warner has been successful, there are ways to counter his game.

Dravid stressed the importance of dismissing Warner early on in the match, recognizing that it could significantly impact the outcome. He also reflected on the significance of reaching the WTC final, considering the hard work put in by the team over the past two years. The inaugural 2021 WTC final saw India losing to New Zealand.

However, Dravid acknowledged the concerns surrounding the future of Test cricket amidst the growing popularity of T20 leagues like the Indian Premier League. He expressed his hope that the WTC final would inspire more teams to engage in Test cricket, despite the challenges posed by scheduling and financial factors. As a former Test cricketer who played 164 matches, Dravid personally expressed his desire to see an increase in the amount of Test cricket being played worldwide.

A video is going viral on social media that shows Kohli giving his best while batting in the nets. However, what hogged more limelight was the fact that it was India’s head coach Rahul Dravid who was giving throwdowns to the star batter. Kohli was earlier struggling with his form but the 2022 Asia Cup saw him making a sensational comeback. The right-handed batter ended the continental event as the second-highest run-scorer being only behind Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan.

The tournament also saw Kohli ending his nearly three-year-long drought of the international century. He had scored a 122 not out against Afghanistan.

Kohli continued his red-hot form with a 63-run knock against Australia in the third and final T20I of a bilateral series and then scored 49 not out against South Africa in the second T20I of another bilateral series that followed. He is currently in Australia for the T20 World Cup. The batting maestro was rested in the first practice match. However, he is likely to take part in the second practice game against the same opponent that takes place on October 13.

India will then play two warm-up matches against Australia and New Zealand on October 17 and 19, respectively, before they start their T20 World Cup campaign with a match against Pakistan on October 23.

Addressing a press conference ahead of India’s Super Four clash against Pakistan, Dravid acknowledged that the squad he has at his disposal isn’t necessarily the “same squad that would go to the World Cup” but that doesn’t imply that India’s preparations will have to wait. “There’s not going to be any workload management over the next three or four days, unless of course it’s forced upon us like, for example, Jadeja,” Dravid said.

“Other than that, we’re looking at every single game to win it, try and win this tournament and do the best that we can. We’ll have time after that to manage the workloads. From now on leading into the World Cup, we want to be playing our best squad as and when possible.” Missing big players aside, Dravid also spoke on Virat Kohli, who’s been under a bit of pressure to score runs before the selectors get together to pick the World Cup squad.

“Especially with Virat, people get a little bit obsessed with his statistics and his numbers and his things,” Dravid said. “For us, it’s not really about that. It’s just about the contributions you can make in different phases in a game and what the contribution is. It doesn’t have to be in the 50s or 100s or a stat for us. Even small contributions mean a lot in Twenty20 cricket, and for our team what is the role required and what does the team need? Virat is pretty keen on really putting in big performances. So yeah, I’m really glad he’s playing well, and hopefully, he can keep doing that for the rest of the tournament.”

“It’s nice to see that he’s come back fresh and he’s looking forward to playing every game. Not that he wasn’t looking forward to playing – sometimes with Virat I think he’s just he’s just one of those guys who’s always on. So, you know, it’s not that earlier he was not, but it’s just nice, I’m glad he’s had the opportunity to break and just come back refreshed and relaxed. It’s good he’s got a chance to bat in the middle and play a couple of games where he’s got time to spend in the middle. And hopefully from here on in he can kick on and have a really good tournament. For us, it’s not really about looking at how many runs he makes.”

Dravid said that he was happy that the top three have bought into the team’s positive approach, something he feels is essential for “per plus” totals in T20s. “I think everyone has bought into it. We’ve talked about playing positive cricket and also being smart as well as positive. I think sometimes you’ve got to also ensure that…,” Dravid said. “It’s about ensuring that you sort of getting par plus scores, depending on what the par is on that particular wicket and in those conditions. I think that’s important. We don’t want to be the team that falls below par in a particular game. That par can change. On a wicket that’s very flat and has small boundaries, the par might be 200. On some other wicket, the par might be 150.”

“We’ve seen some pretty challenging wickets in this tournament. Probably, you know, it’s not 200-run games that’s par in these tournaments. Whatever the conditions that we are faced with in front of us, we always want to ensure that we are par or par plus. Ideally par plus. You always want to be batting first, you want to be par plus of course. When you’re chasing a score that’s in front of you concerning whatever the team sets for you, so you want to be par plus, and honestly, the guys have bought into it. Everyone’s very keen to try and go about that and achieve that. It’s not always that you’re going to be able to succeed but certainly, we are looking to be positive and certainly play the kind of cricket that T20 cricket demands today.”