Dravid emphasised that the injuries sustained by prominent players such as Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pantcompelled the team management to explore alternative options in the middle-order during recent times.He clarified that these changes were not driven by mere experimentation, but rather a necessity dictated by the circumstances.
“The No. 4 and 5 spots are discussed a lot and give the impression that we didn’t have clarity on who is going to be there. I could have told you 18-19 months ago who the three candidates for the two spots were.
“It was always between Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant. There was no doubt,” Dravid said at India’s pre-departure presser ahead of the Asia Cup.
“It’s unfortunate that all three had injuries in the space of two months. What are the odds of that happening. All three guys pushing for those two spots, had serious injuries, had to go under the knife.
“So, you have to react to that, put other people in those positions and see who can do it. Just in case a World Cup comes, they are not fit. In that situation we tried a few people.”
The former Indian captain added, “This word (experimentation) keeps getting thrown around without being thought through. It’s not that we are experimenting for the sake of experimenting, sometimes there are specific reasons for it.”
While Pant is still out of action after suffering multiple injuries in a horrific car accident on the Dehradun-Delhi highway in December last year, Iyer and Rahul hurt their back and thigh in March and May respectively.
Both Iyer and Rahul have recovered and are part of India’s Asia Cup squad. However, Rahul will miss the first two games due to a niggle.
Iyer’s back injury flared up after the fourth Border-Gavaskar Test against Australia in March. But the batter is set to bolster the Indian middle-order at the Asia Cup and World Cup.
“He has looked good. It’s now about us giving him game time. Hopefully, we can give him that at the Asia Cup and build him up for the World Cup. He has ticked all the boxes in this camp, batted a lot and fielded,” Dravid said.
Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna made a comeback after long injury layoffs and the coach is delighted to have more fast bowling options at his disposal.
“It’s great to have them back and see them bowling well. Jasprit is someone we have missed a lot in the past two years. He hasn’t played much. We will ease him into it slowly.
“Ireland was a good opportunity to ease him in. Now we have a whole month to build that up before the World Cup. The duo’s return gives us more options in the pace bowling department.”
(With PTI inputs)
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