India have narrowed down on '17-18' players, just have to cover all bases: Rahul Dravid

The past month has been quite thrilling for both India and Australia. First, they started with a thrilling series in the Whites where most of the discussion remained on the pitch and sweeping. However, talking of Australia, it has been a roller coaster tour for them so far. After having equalized the series the focus has shifted to the limited overs format as the crucial bid to prepare for the upcoming ODI world cup which is to be held in India later this year.

Meanwhile, team India are in their bid to size up themselves and rehearse well by gradually ticking all the boxes before shooting for the ultimate glory in the form of the ODI world cup. While they did dominate in the Test series for most of the time but in the 50-over format, they have looked lacklustre despite trumping Australia in the first ODI. Moreover, in the second ODI, the Aussies showed their cricketing brilliance through their openers and fast bowler Mitchell Starc which led to a 10-wicket emphatic victory.

Amidst all these see-saw conundrums of setting up the right balance for the ODI world cup team India's head coach Rahul Dravid has put forth team think tanks' views on how the team is potentially shaping up for the mega carnival. As per Dravid, the management has zeroed in on 17-18 players for the upcoming 50-over world cup at home, which is likely to happen in October-November later this year. Furthermore, before the series decider, Dravid emphasized the core as one of the key takeaways which can help to play the best team possible going into the world cup.

We are pretty clear about the kind of squad and the players we want. We have narrowed it down to 17-18 players: Rahul Dravid

Notably, India have contested 53 ODIs since the last world cup which was held back in 2019 in England. Thereafter, the Men In Blue suffered several injury woes which meant that many players were in the mix with the goal of building the team core. Dravid with the world cup to happen in just six months from now is pushing for giving these players a longer run. He was also pleased with the team's performance in the eight ODIs India have played at home so far.

"Probably not going to get too many more games in our conditions. We had the opportunity to play in these conditions which is great. Yeah, coming out of the IPL to a large extent we are pretty clear about the kind of squad and the players we want. We have narrowed it down to 17-18 players," Dravid was quoted as saying by India Today on Tuesday.

In the current scenario, the Indian team is already plagued by injuries in the form of Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, and Deepak Chahar respectively. Albeit, the 50-year-old legend iterated that the Indian team is in good mental space.

"We are always presuming that the wickets will spin in India. We just actually presume. I don't think the last 2 spun at all. We never know what we are going to get in the World Cup," the Indore-born continued.

"In the league phase, nine cities, it is in October, the wickets won't be as tired as they probably are in the IPL and (that too) at the back-end of our summer. You just have to get all your bases covered. A wrist spinner does give an advantage to a side in middle overs, Dravid concluded.

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS App Store and Google Play Store