Core exercise: Dravid wants clearer picture of WC squad

PTI

Chennai, March 21

Rahul Dravid is more than happy with the takeaways from the eight home ODIs that the Indian team has played and he has already narrowed down his

World Cup core team to 17 to 18 players.

India are going into the series decider against Australia having already played eight home games — three against Sri Lanka, three versus New Zealand and two against Australia so far.

Did he achieve what he had set out for in the eight home ODIs, keeping the World Cup in mind?

“We have to a large extent. We have got a lot more clarity at the end of these nine games irrespective of what happens tomorrow. We need to keep building on that clarity,” Dravid said on the eve of the third ODI against the Aussies.

“For us it is now the different playing XI combinations and just ensuring that we play different combinations at times just to ensure that we are able to do that in the World Cup and we are not surprised by anything in the World Cup,” he added.

This leg of home ODIs was very important as the players will soon be busy with the upcoming IPL. It will be followed by the WTC final, a tour of the West Indies and a possible Asia Cup in Dubai.

“Probably not going to get too many more games in our conditions. We had the opportunity to play in these conditions which is great. Yeah, coming out of the IPL to a large extent we are pretty clear about the kind of squad and the players we want. We have narrowed it down to 17-18 players.”

Injuries to Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, Prasidh Krishna and Deepak Chahar does remain a concern but Dravid insisted that the team is in a good frame of mind.

“We have some guys who are recovering from injuries and will come into the frame based on their recovery. All in all, we are pretty much in good space. We are able to give those who we have zeroed in on as many playing opportunities. There are a couple of different combinations that we would like to try. It is a big tournament, a long tournament in India, we want to have that flexibility in our squad,” Dravid said. -