India’s Shreyas Iyer, center, with batting partner Tilak Varma (AP/PTI)
The planning for the ODI World Cup will only begin in earnest when India reach New Zealand in October, since most of the first-choice players will not be available for the ODI series against West Indies at home from September 27. KL Rahul too will be over 35 by the time the World Cup comes around. 4 and scored a hundred against South Africa in Raipur.
The fielding of the team has suffered due to fitness issues. The selection committee is due to meet by September 3 to pick the team for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in Delhi from September 13.
The team management feels that they need younger backups ready,” the source said. New Delhi: India’s team management and selectors are working on backups for the middle order ahead of the ODI World Cup next year. TOI has learnt that Tilak Varma’s name has come up as a potential backup option for Shreyas Iyer in the top six of the batting lineup. Tilak, being a left-handed batter, is seen as someone who can break the monotony of right-handers in the batting lineup. Tilak has been asked to work on his bowling since it is believed that his off-breaks have a lot of potential. The team management, in fact, has flagged the dearth of bowling options in the top order, citing it as a reason for extra pressure on the lower order and the bowlers. A full-strength T20 team is also scheduled to travel to Japan for the Asian Games at the same time. “The team has to be prepared for conditions in South Africa in the World Cup. Iyer got injured in Australia and his game against pace and bounce is untested of late. The team already has two ageing players in Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. They are having niggles as well. Ravindra Jadeja isn’t a certainty either. The selectors, it is learnt, are not comfortable with playing batters out of position. But he has not been picked in the ODI team since.
Over the last year, the team management has been compelled to play either Washington Sundar or Axar Patel at No. Last year, Ruturaj Gaikwad was played at No.