New Chandigarh, Oct 4 (IANS) India captain Shubman Gill emphasised that India need to field their World Cup combination from the next series onwards and that there is not much time to experiment with the global showpiece, now only a year away.
With India sending a first-choice T20I team for defending the Asian Games gold medal, several automatic ODI players missed the West Indies series. India were also hampered by injuries to Hardik Pandya and Prasidh Krishna, with the latter missing the third ODI due to a left hamstring.
Pace talisman Jasprit Bumrah, ODI vice-captain Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar were also on Asian Games duty, while Harshit Rana was injured as India fielded a mix of first-choice and backup players for the 2-1 Windies series win.
In the absence of the first-choice ODI players, opportunities opened for the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj and Auqib Nabi, while Nitish Kumar Reddy and Gurnoor Brar seem to be the options India are working to groom for the World Cup.
Speaking after the game, Gill highlighted that the situation provided the second-string players to put their case forward, while also hoping that India would have a first-choice World Cup combination from the next series onwards, which is an away all-format series against New Zealand with five ODIs, apart from five T20Is and two Tests.
“It’s unfortunate with the injuries and the scheduling of other matches that we have not been able to play the bowling line-up we would have liked to. But that is something that is not in our hands. It is a good chance for the other players, who might not have been in the team if we had the full-strength bowling. So it is a great chance for the other players to showcase their skills,” Gill said in the post-match press conference after India lost the 3rd ODI against the Windies by five wickets.
However, he felt that time is running fast for too many experimentations. “I honestly don’t think there is that much time to experiment. The combination that we want to play, hopefully we get all the players that are available from the next series and the combination that we would like to play in the World Cup, we want to start playing with that combination,” Gill added.
Gill also spoke on debutants Kamboj and Nabi despite their tough outings in the series, as both of them leaked runs. “Anshul and Auqib are the kind of players who are going to be in the mix a lot. (With Prasidh injured) we had an opportunity to experiment with another player with the series being in the bag. So, we wanted to take that opportunity. And Anshul is someone who can also bat at number 8. And that number is very crucial for us,” he said.
–IANS
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