Rahul Dravid, the head coach, declined to comment on the opening pair for India’s T20 World Cup opener against Ireland on June 5. Nevertheless, Rohit Sharma will most probably be Virat Kohli’s partner at the top of the order. At the same time, there is also speculation about Yashasvi Jaiswal being an option.
“We have options so we are definitely not going to open our hands now but we have options. Also Our IPL saw Rohit and Jaiswal and Virat opened in the IPL as well.”
According to Dravid while speaking with reporters in New York City: “We took a team which can pick from three alternatives based on conditions and what sort of combination we want to go into these games.”
Dravid says, ‘in all honesty, I think we have done very well in those world cup tournaments. In relation to consistency we have been consistent with ourselves.’
“Obviously making the semi-final in Australia (2022). The World Test Championship is slightly different. It’s not one tournament. It’s a whole cycle but playing extremely well in that cycle to get to the final there again.
“And then we know the 50-over World Cup where we had a great run and went into the final. So, in terms of our consistency and quality of cricket that we have played in these big tournaments, we’ve been right up there with some of the best teams.”
The coach spoke about the team’s commitment towards reaching their goals and maintaining high standards.
“Yes, we probably haven’t been able to get across the line in the knockout game. So, we just probably haven’t been able to execute in that last phase. So hopefully again hopefullly play well enough cricket on this day to get ourselves into those positions and maybe play good cricket on the day for crossing them.
“The important thing when you start these tournaments is not to think about that, is to actually think about getting into those positions. You have got yourselves into positions which are contestible and as a group or team you can do nothing more,” said Dravid.
He also expressed missing what he called “buzz” typically associated with a world event but hoped that such would change once Team India plays its matches.
“The buzz that you have around these events clearly because it isn’t perhaps one of our biggest sports over here which means it doesn’t really exist like that over here too much.So you don’t kind of feel that kind of buzz over here but hopefully when our game starts and a lot of Indian fans do start coming in then you start seeing things for real.”
