Despite the positive performances and emerging options in the recent T20I series against Afghanistan, India's head coach, Rahul Dravid, has voiced concerns over the lack of team-time ahead of the T20 World Cup. The three-match series against Afghanistan served as India's final T20 assignment before the showpiece event in the West Indies and the USA.
Dravid, while acknowledging the depth and options available in the squad, highlighted the challenge posed by the limited preparation time leading up to the T20 World Cup.
“We’ve had different people play after the last ODI World Cup for a variety of reasons. But I think it’s just nice to see that there are some options (ahead of World Cup) who have put their hand up, and certainly shown that they’ve got skills to address.”
“Some areas we might need some addressing in, and we were thinking about it,” Dravid said in his post-match press conference in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Team cohesion and match practice are crucial elements in tournament preparation, and the coach expressed the need for sufficient team-time to fine-tune strategies and combinations.
“Unfortunately, we really won’t have much cricket as a team anymore. We will obviously have the IPL, and you know, everyone will be watching closely to see how some of those guys play and what are the slots we need to fill in the team,” he said.
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Dube took the Player of the Series honour against Afghanistan for his 124 runs and two wickets from three matches, and Dravid was excited to have an all-rounder option to consider.
“He’s come back after a long time. He’s certainly very much an improved player after coming back. There’s no doubt that he always had the talent, but just really happy to see the way he performed in the series.”
“I’m sure it will give him a lot of confidence as well, you come back in and play a series and you become the man of the series. It’s great and has certainly put his hand up. He’s going to have that opportunity to show it in the IPL again, like he did last year,” said Dravid.
Another position of scrutiny is the wicketkeeping slot. India have multiple choices in Jitesh, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, who is yet to regain full fitness.
The former India captain did not rule anyone out.
“We’ve got quite a few keeping options out there. We saw a couple of guys in this game. There’s Sanju, Kishan and Rishabh, I mean, we have all these guys.”
“We’ll just have to see how things pan out over the course of the next few months and make a decision on what we think is the best way to go.”