Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar has urged the team management to play the main players in all ODI matches. Gavaskar feels there shouldn’t be any rest if you want to win the World Cup. India was recently knocked out of the T20 World Cup after losing against England by 10 wickets in the semifinal contest.
India last won a major ICC trophy back in 2013 but since then, they haven’t been able to go all the way in the big events. Meanwhile, as the team’s schedule is always tight, the team’s think tank tries to manage the workload of the players by giving them breaks.
However, Gavaskar feels the main team should play more often than not. After India was knocked out of the World Cup, players like Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul were rested for the New Zealand tour.
“I hope there is not too much chopping and changing. I also hope there is not too much of giving a break now. Then the combination takes a long time to gel when you come into the World Cup. And then in World Cup, there is no matches where you can afford to lose. So it is very important that the core plays all matches. Yes there will be an odd player coming in somewhere when you need an extra bowler or a batter. But the core has to play every single one-day game. No rest. You are playing for India. No rest. You want to win the World Cup. And for that, you need that combination to be absolutely gelling every single game,” Sunil Gavaskar said on Sony Sports Network.
India would want to keep coming up with a collective effort and have their game plan ready for the next year’s World Cup. The quadrennial event will be hosted by India and thus the team will play in known and favorable conditions.
India has a large pool of players and they would want to shortlist the players for the World Cup.
Meanwhile, India was bundled out for 186 runs in the first ODI against Bangladesh on Sunday after Litton Das won the toss and decided to bowl first.
The second ODI will be played on Wednesday at the same venue of Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka.
