Head coach Rahul Dravid on Wednesday admitted that the Indian players will not get too many chances to play as a group ahead of the T20 World Cup, and said they need to remain mentally flexible ahead of the major event in June. Is.
The three-match series against Afghanistan starting here on Thursday will be India’s final T20 International contest before the global showpiece. In that context, Dravid said that the management will also have to depend a bit on IPL 2024 for team selection.
“After the last T20 World Cup (2022), we gave priority to the ODI World Cup. But after that (ODI World Cup) we don’t have that many T20 matches,” Dravid said in his pre-match conference.
“So, this T20I WC is a little different in the sense that there is not a lot of time to prepare for it. We have to rely on the cricket we have and a little bit of the IPL as well.”
Dravid stressed the need for players to remain adaptable in situations where they may not get collective game time.
“We may not get a lot of chances to play together, so we have to work around it. You just need to adapt and be flexible. We had good preparation before the One Day World Cup. Even in the last T20 World Cup, we played many matches together as a group. This time maybe we won’t have as many (many matches), but it’s all about adapting as we move forward.”
Some key players like fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will not play the three-match T20 series against the Afghans.
Does his absence hinder the team’s ambition to get as much collective genuine match-time as possible?
Dravid thought that considering the amount of cricket being played, it was important to give rest to the players.
“It is impossible for all players to play all the time, especially for players who are playing all three formats. We have to prioritize what is important.
Keeping in mind the five-Test home series against England, Bumrah, Siraj and Jadeja have been ruled out of this series. So, we have always been juggling that a little bit over the last two years,” he signed off.
