With the ICC World Cup in England just over two months away from getting underway, all eyes are on the upcoming five-match ODI series between India and Australia which begins at Hyderabad on Saturday.
Several spots in India’s final 15-man squad still remain up for grabs with the ODI series against the Aussie being the final international engagement for Virat Kohli’s men before the start of the World Cup.
Majority of India’s stars will participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL) following the completion of the ODI series before they head to England for the World Cup. If any of India’s players were worried about a poor IPL campaign throwing their World Cup spot in jeopardy, Kohli’s most recent comments will come as music to their ears.
“We need to have a solid team. Before we head into the IPL, we need to be absolutely clear of what team we want for the World Cup. I don’t see anything changing on how the IPL goes for any of the players,” the India skipper stated on the eve of the first ODI.
“If one or two players do not have a good IPL season, it doesn’t mean that they are out of the picture for the World Cup. Those things are not going to matter,” Kohli added.
One of the players still looking to make a case for a World Cup berth is KL Rahul with the top-order batsman rediscovering his form in the preceding T20 series with two half-centuries. According to Kohli, the door remains open for Rahul should he continue his fine form.
“It (recent form) augurs really well. KL, when he plays well, is operating at a different level I feel. We have seen him do that in the IPL last year and in patches over the last season we played as a team,” said Kohli.
Several spots are still up for grabs in India’s World Cup squad.
“It’s very difficult to find a consistent player, who can play good cricketing shots and still win you games at a strike-rate of over 140 or 150. He has all the shots and has a solid game as well. It will be interesting to see what happens in the final World Cup squad.
“Definitely, he has made a strong case for himself. It’s good he’s in great nick and hopefully he can carry it forward.”
While Kohli and India will be looking to test various combinations for the World Cup in the clashes against Australia, the skipper has made it clear that the ultimate goal is to win the series.
“We are playing to win the series or else I’ll leave the ball to hit the stumps,” Kohli commented.
“As I said earlier, if we want to see how a few guys play in a certain situation, we’ll play them again in that situation. It’s not like if a guy is not playing in a certain situation, he doesn’t have the ability.”
