A well-rested India side take on the Netherlands today in the final match of the league stage of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. The Men in Blue are the only unbeaten team in the tournament so far and top the World Cup points table. India will next face New Zealand in the semi-finals, and Rohit and Co. will take on New Zealand in the final, which may prompt the team management to rest some key players against the Dutch today.
Some of the key decisions that skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid may have to make would be to rest veteran batter Virat Kohli, KL Rahul or even the skipper himself. As for the bowlers, Rohit could consider resting veteran pacer Jasprit Bumrah or one of the spinners Kuldeep Yadav or Ravindra Jadeja.
During the pre-match press conference on Saturday, Indian coach explained the team management’s approach to resting key players for the game against the Dutch.
Dravid said, “We’ve had six days off from the last game. So, we’re pretty well rested and the guys are in good shape. That’s all I’ll say without giving away the level. So, we’ve had six days off, we’ve got one game before the semi-final. Boys are rested. So that’s all I’ll say,”
“You’re at a pointy end in a tournament now. So now at this stage, it’s about just focusing on getting the guys who you think are going to be playing in the XI in the best possible space mentally and physically to be able to play that semifinal and hopefully the final if we if we earn it. So that will be the single pointed thinking it’s not about there are times there are times for larger picture thinking and there are times for narrow focus thinking in my opinion and now’s the time for sure narrow focus thinking if everyone is fit,” the Indian coach added.
Indian squad for the 50 over world cup:
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Prasidh Krishna, Suryakumar Yadav.
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Updated: 12 Nov 2023, 09:18 AM IST