Former India captain Rahul Dravid has said that India is heading into the World Cup with a balanced team because they have a lot of options to choose from.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on April 15, announced Indian’s 15-man squad for the grand tournament, to be held in England and Wales, and while there were some obvious starters, the likes of Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu were left in place of Dinesh Karthik and Vijay Shankar respectively.
A lot was said over the selection then and Dravid – who currently coached India A and U-19 team – has said that the team has been picked and we need to back the players for the tournament.
"It is never going to be easy for selectors. Without commenting on specifics, overall India has a very good balanced team for this World Cup. (They have) Lots of combinations, lots of options,” Dravid told Times of India.
"It is a question of them performing in the tournament. You can always argue one or two cases, one or two names. The team has been picked, (now) back it and hope they do really well.”
Conditions in England have always been tricky, to say the least. And Dravid – who was part of India’s 1999 World Cup squad in England – has said that the conditions have changed over the years and expects the tournament to be a high scoring one.
"English conditions have actually changed, especially for ODIs. We were there last year for A series and scores were really high. 300 was par score and was being chased consistently.
"ODI has changed slightly in England and (you) can't go with the typical mindset that it will be the old English conditions (of swing and seam). Wickets have become flatter, encouraging higher scores in England and wickets are catering to that.
"This World Cup will probably be a much high scoring World Cup and India is well equipped for that as well,” Dravid added.
India begin their World Cup quest from June 5 against South Africa at the Rose Bowl Stadium.
