Dravid puts exposure for World Cup over winning games

As the home tournament looms, India are yet to settle on a squad with key players still on the mend following injuries

Long before India’s six-wicket defeat to West Indies in the second ODI at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Saturday was sealed, coach Rahul Dravid must have known that some uncomfortable questions would be coming his way. Sent in by West Indies skipper Shai Hope, the visitors stumbled to a meagre total of 181 in 40.5 overs, one that the hosts — Windies are still reeling from their failure to make the World Cup — chased down with 80 balls remaining.

Rohit Sharma (L) and Rahul Dravid (R), of India, take part in a training session (AFP)

It was an admittedly tricky surface where a total of 240 may have yielded a different result, but more than that, India’s decision to continue experimenting with a maximum of 11 ODIs left before the World Cup is bound to polarise opinion. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were rested while Axar Patel was interestingly promoted to No.4.

Before their opening World Cup game against Australia at Chepauk on October 8, should India give opportunities to as many players as possible? Or begin playing their strongest possible team so that the pieces of the jigsaw fall into place?

“This was honestly our last chance to be able to try out some of our players,” explained Dravid in the post-match press conference. “We have got a few of our players injured who are in the National Cricket Academy (NCA). With a month to go for the Asia Cup, we are running out of time in a lot of ways. We are hopeful that some of them at least will be fit for the Asia Cup and the World Cup, but we can't take those chances. We have to try out other people and give them some chances so that in a worst-case scenario at least they have game time behind them. It gives us an opportunity to make some decisions on players.”

The players Dravid is pointing towards are Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. Each of them is at the NCA in Bengaluru currently, undergoing rehabilitation for their respective injuries in a bid to be available for the marquee event. By saying India are hopeful of these players being fit for the Asia Cup and World Cup, Dravid also seems to be preparing for the possibility that they may not.

Which is why Dravid will continue looking at the bigger picture even though the one-day series against West Indies is locked 1-1 heading into the final ODI on Tuesday.

“With the injuries we have and the big tournaments coming up, we have to look at the bigger picture. We can't worry about every game and every series. If we do that, I think it will be a mistake,” he said.