The concept of workload management in the Indian team has been questioned by some legends.
The series also sees a return of India’s star batters Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, who were given a rest from the recently held white-ball series against New Zealand for workload management.
On the eve of the opening ODI, India skipper Rohit Sharma addressed a press conference, where he was asked about the 50-over World Cup in October-November next year.
Rohit made it clear that there is still time before his team can start thinking about the showpiece tournament.
"Every time you play a game, it's preparing for something. The World Cup is still 8-9 months (10 months) from now. We can't think so far ahead. We need to keep an eye on what we need to do as team," Rohit told reporters ahead of the first ODI.
"It is very, very important for us not to start thinking about so many things. Like we need to play this guy or that guy. Me and coach (Dravid) have fair idea what to do. We will narrow it down once we come closer to the World Cup," he added.
Some of the legends of Indian cricket like Sunil Gavaskar have questioned the concept of ‘workload management’ in the Indian team.
However, the Indian captain highlighted that a lot of cricket is being played and it won't stop.
"As professionals, we have to keep up the intensity. Yes, there's a lot of cricket and that's why we give them breaks. And people need to understand that when we give players a break, it is only to manage the workload keeping the bigger picture in mind.
"Cricket is not going to stop. There will always be a lot of cricket and we need to manage our players. You want your best players to play with higher intensity all the time. So it is important to give them breaks, manage them as freshness is very important," he elaborated.
Rohit also detailed his team's daunting schedule in the past few months.
"Lot of the guys have been on the road before the World Cup and we had two back-to-back series versus Australia and South Africa. And then, we went straight to Australia. It has already been two and half months. It is impossible in this day and age that you will always play with your best 15. It's not going to happen," he remarked.
(With PTI inputs)