Ahead of the 2023 ODI World Cup at home, Team India are sweating over the fitness of some of their key players like Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer.
While Bumrah will get a chance to prove his fitness in the upcoming T20I tour of Ireland later this month, there is no clarity over Rahul and Iyer’s recovery progress yet.
As a result, India experimented with their playing XI during the recently held three-match ODI series against West Indies. The team management rested star batters like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the last two games and provided opportunities to Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav.
While the experimentation drew criticism with only two months remaining for the World Cup, former India opener Aakash Chopra believes that the team management should not be blamed for it.
“The hands are tied. Because I was critical of the team when they experimented too much in the ODI series when they had three different batters at no. 3 and 4 in three different games. And you start asking questions, what is the team going to do? Then the thought popped, are these guys not going to be available? Just a thought. That’s what we discussed in Match-centre as well," Aakash Chopra was quoted as saying by NDTV.
There are media reports claiming that Shreyas Iyer’s return may take time as the batter has started facing back issues even after undergoing surgery.
According to Chopra, India will find themselves in a tight spot if Iyer fails to regain his fitness in time. Notably, the Men in Blue have Asia Cup 2023 and a bilateral ODI series lined up before heading into the World Cup.
“Will Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul be available? Or is there an insight that these might not be available and these guys are scrambling for options? The latter seems to be the case if we are to believe the latest reports. In this case, you don’t blame. I don’t think it is by design. I think they are clutching the straws, that whatever we have, make the most of it, with the hope that all our main guys will be fit. I don’t blame the team management at all. India is in a tight spot," he further stated.
