Indian team management is ready with its game plan for the ICC World Cup 2027 in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. And a primary part of their plan is to reportedly convince the senior pros like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul to agree to a rotation policy in upcoming ODIs to give the inexperienced, younger players more time to get ready.
As per the Times of India report, the Indian team management and the BCCI selectors have been doing their best to convince the seniors to adopt a rotation policy for some time. They wanted to rest Rohit Sharma for the third and final ODI against Afghanistan to have Yashasvi Jaiswal open the innings. However, Jaiswal opened the innings with Rohit, while captain Shubman Gill batted at no. 3.
If Rohit has a successful run in this series without Jaiswal, he will be under pressure. Instead of hitting big in the final game of a series, as he has been doing in the previous several series, the team management would rather have him score early in the series.
Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and KL Rahul would alternate in the absence of Virat Kohli, according to hints made by the Indian team management before the ODI series against Afghanistan. In the end, Rahul was rested for the last ODI, and Ishan was assigned to keep wickets.
However, it doesn’t seem like an easy task for the Indian team management to convince the senior trio to rest, given they only play ODIs for India in the white-ball format. The Times of India report quoted sources saying that Yashasvi Jaiswal remains firmly in the plans for the ICC World Cup 2027.
“The team management doesn’t want a situation where a senior player breaks down, and there is no one ready with enough game time. The issue is that Rohit, Kohli, and Rahul don’t play much international white-ball cricket besides ODIs. Rohit may get a full run in England. If his form suffers here, he may not get that run in the following series,” sources said as per the Times of India.
Even Captain Shubman Gill said on Monday that India needed to give the fringe players some game time to keep them ready in case they have to play.
“You know, in such a series, it doesn't feel like an unsettled XI. You have to give them experience. As we were talking about experience, the more pressure situations they are in and the more they do well, the better it will be for us before the World Cup. You play 11 matches in the World Cup, and, usually, the bilateral series we play is 5 or 3 matches. Usually, it is three matches. So, playing 3 matches and playing 11 matches makes a big difference,” Gill had said.
Gill also highlighted how the series in England may be the closest to conditions they Gill also pointed out that the series in England might closely resemble the conditions they expect to face in South Africa. to encounter in South Africa.
“The preparation for the World Cup (2027) is crucial. Our mindset is that the kind of combination and wickets we will get in South Africa will be close to what we will play here. So, what kind of combination can we try, and which combination is good for us? So, in that sense, it is a very important series (vs England) for us,” he said.
(Times of India report)
