As India begin preparations for the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in right earnest, the question that everyone in cricketing circles is asking is about experimentation.
There is a little over two months to go for the World Cup and India still don't have a settled looking squad for the quadrennial extravaganza that begins on October 5th.
What has compounded matters further is the list of injuries that India has and the issue of finding capable back ups in the squad, who can be cover for the first-choice players.
With India's loss in the second ODI against West Indies by six wickets, there is a growing clamour that experimentation is really not the way forward, although the team management thinks differently.
Needless Experimentation?
Head coach Rahul Dravid feels India would look at trying out different players who can serve as adequate back ups in case the main players don't make it in time.
This explains why Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson are being given playing time but with both failing to cash in on the opportunity, there is disappointment at that end.
What makes matters worse is the likes of skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli sitting out with hardly 10 ODIs left before India play their opening World Cup match against Australia in Chennai.
Going into an event like the World Cup, isn't it all the more important that you play at least two months of solid ODI cricket with the core group of players who will be your mainstays at the tournament?
Flawed approach
With that philosophy, benching Rohit and Kohli seems like a completely flawed approach.
And let's assume the likes of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are fit by the time the World Cup comes around, won't they need adequate competitive match time to gear up?
Unless Rahul and Iyer are fit for the Asia Cup, their chances of getting match time is highly unlikely and so we would then be going into the event with players who don't have match fitness and playing time.
Not the most ideal way to prepare for a home World Cup where the expectations and hopes from fans would be sky high.
Batting woes in middle order
Another crucial aspect where India will have to pay urgent attention to is their batting approach. ODI cricket is still ODI cricket but then a lot has changed in the way top sides go about their batting.
Defending World Champions England have adopted a slam-bang approach that ensures they rack up huge scores while batting first and chase down massive targets with ease as well.
This is the English batting template post 2015 World Cup which has paid them rich dividends since then and won them their first-ever ODI World Cup in 2019.
Lack of clarity in approach
Not to say India needs to copy that approach in their batting style but there has to be clarity of thought about how our batting approach is going to be.
If one could jog our memory back to two years ago, prior to the 2021 T20 World Cup, India had adopted an ultra aggressive style of batting.
However, when we lost our first match to arch-rivals Pakistan, the team completely did a U-turn and reverted to playing in the traditional measured approach. This is the kind of situation Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma need to avoid as that would defeat the purpose of adopting a certain kind of playing style in the first place.
Having confidence and conviction in sticking to one approach would be crucial in a big and long tournament like the World Cup and India would do well to remember that.
