India enter the game having already played eight home games – three against Sri Lanka, three against New Zealand and three against Australia ending Wednesday in Chennai.
Dravid wants to explore different XI game combinations to get more clarity ahead of the ODI World Cup and doesn’t want to be surprised at the quadrennial event.
“We have to a large extent. We have a lot more clarity at the end of these nine games, regardless of what happens tomorrow. We have to continue to build on that clarity.
“For us now it’s the different combinations of XI play and we just make sure that sometimes we play different combinations just to make sure we’re able to do it in the World Cup and we’re not surprised by anything in the FIFA Cup. world,” Dravid said. media on the eve of the decisive game against Australia on Tuesday.
This leg of the home ODIs was very important as the players will now enter the IPL and after that there is the WTC Grand Final, followed by a tour of the West Indies and a possible Asian Cup in Dubai .
“I probably won’t get too many games under our conditions. We’ve had the opportunity to play under those conditions, which is great. Yeah, coming out of the IPL to a large extent, we’re pretty clear on the type of team and players we want. We’ve narrowed it down to 17-18 players.
injuries to Jasprit BumrahIyer, Prasidh Krishna, Deepak Chahar remain a concern but Dravid insisted the squad were in good spirits.
“We have guys who are recovering from injuries who will come into the frame depending on their recovery. Overall we’re pretty much in a good space. We’re able to give those we’ve targeted as much gambling opportunities.
“There are a few different combinations that we would like to try. It’s a big tournament, a long tournament in India, we want to have that flexibility in our team. Sometimes four fast bowlers, sometimes three spinners. Within the team, we’d like to keep options, just to make sure we’ve covered all our bases for all conditions.”
The head coach regretted the absence of an injured Shreyas Iyer, who had been slated to beat at No. 4 in the World Cup. The coach was at the same time sympathetic towards Suryakumar Yadav, who has yet to set the ODI stage on fire unlike the T20 format.
“Obviously. It’s unfortunate for Shreyas to get injured. He’s probably one of those guys who would hit at No.4 and have a lot of time in that position. If you notice we stuck with people in position. For two years before this run there was a lot of T20 cricket played and we didn’t have a lot of one-day cricket and if there are injuries and all that, we have options.”
But don’t Surya’s first pitch ducks really worry Dravid.
“Not really concerned about Surya. He got two really good balls. One of the things about Surya is he’s learning the 50 overs game. T20 is slightly different. In T20 he played 10 years of ‘IPL.
“He (Surya) played a lot of T20 cricket. He played a lot of high pressure T20 matches. Even though he played a lot of T20 cricket, I think he didn’t play a lot of cricket from a day. We need to give him time and be patient with that. We definitely see the benefit of doing him well.
“At this point, Kuldeep will be longer than Yuzi”
Consistency in selection has always been key for Dravid and right now if there’s a wrist spinner, who’s going to get a long rope, it will be Kuldeep Yadav and not Yuzvendra Chahal.
“We always assume the wickets will rotate in India. We just assume. I don’t think the last 2 have rotated at all. We never know what we’re going to get in the World Cup,” Dravid said.
“In the league phase, nine cities, that’s October, the wickets won’t be as tired as they probably are in the IPL and (that too) at the end of our summer. You just have to get all your bases covered.”
A wrist turn gives a team the advantage in the middle overs, Dravid agreed.
“Obviously having a wrist spinner, if he bowls well, is a huge advantage. Taking wickets in the middle is important. A wrist spinner gives that chance to attack and take wickets in the middle, that’s why Kuldeep gave a fairly regular run.
“We have Yuzi (Chahal), who unfortunately is a very good bowler and is missing. At the moment we believe in giving people a consistent run before making decisions and Kuldeep is the one who gets the run over the last few games.”
(With PTI inputs)
