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Indian head coach Rahul Dravid has defended the selectors' decision to rest senior players for the three-T20I series against Afghanistan. India's pace-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, his new-ball partner Mohammed Siraj, and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja have been rested for the T20I series which is India’s last before T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies. Dravid said that it was important to prioritise the five-Test series against England.
“It is impossible for all the players to play all the time, especially for the players who are playing all the three formats. We had to prioritise what is important,” Dravid said in the pre-match press conference in Mohali.
“Bumrah, Siraj and Jadeja have missed out from this series because keeping in mind the five-Test home series against England. So, we are always playing that juggling act a little bit over the last two years,” he added.
As India don't have any more T20I series scheduled between the Afghanistan T20I series and T20 World Cup, the selectors will rely on performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL) to finalise the squad for the mega event.
“After the last T20I World Cup (2022) we prioritised the ODI World Cup. But we don’t have that many T20I games after that (ODI WC),” said Dravid.
"So, this T20I WC is slightly different in the sense that (there’s) not a lot of time to prepare for that. We have to rely on the cricket that we have and also a little bit on the IPL."
Dravid also said that there is a need to adapt and be flexible as they won’t have much time to play together unlike ODI World Cup 2023.
“We might not get too many chances to play together, so we will have to work around that. You just need to adapt and be flexible. We had a good preparation leading into the one-day WC. Even in the last T20I World Cup, we had a lot of games together as a group. This time we won’t have that (many matches) probably, but it is all about adapting while going ahead,” he added.
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