Team India captain Shubman Gill admitted that the hosts could not play the bowling line-up that they would have ideally liked to in the three-match series against the West Indies. Stating that there is very little time for experiment with regards to the 2027 ODI World Cup, he expressed hope about the first-choice players being available from the next one-day series.
India missed the services of Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel in the three-match ODI series against the West Indies. All three were part of the T20I squad that won the gold medal at the Asian Games in Japan. As a result, the Men in Blue handed debuts to Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi and Anshul Kamboj during the ODI series at home against the West Indies.
India lost the third and final ODI of the series by five wickets as the West Indies chased down 352 in New Chandigarh on Saturday, October 3. Addressing a press conference after the conclusion of the series, Gill admitted that India missed their main bowlers. The Men in Blue skipper commented:
“It’s been unfortunate with the injuries and the scheduling. We were unable to play the bowling line-up that we would like to, but at the same time, it’s something that is not in our hands. It’s a good chance for other players who might not have been in the team if the full-strength bowling line-up would have been there. It’s a great chance for them to showcase their skills.
“I honestly think there is not that much time to experiment. The combination that we want to play, hopefully we get all the players that are available from the next series. The combination that we would like to play in the World Cup, we want to start playing with that combination,” Gill was quick to add.
While some of India’s main bowlers were unavailable in the ODI series due to the Asian Games, Harshit Rana and Hardik Pandya are recovering from injuries.
“They’ve been batting really well” – Shubman Gill hails senior batters
While Gill was fantastic with the bat, smashing a century and a double century, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul also slammed tons in the series against the West Indies. Praising the senior players, he commented:
“They’ve been batting really well, Rohit bhai, in the last four innings, he made a few hundreds, so he has been batting really well. So has Virat bhai. Whenever KL has got the chance, he has done the work for the team, put in the effort and batted brilliantly.”
Rohit scored 225 runs in three innings during the series against the West Indies and Kohli 168. Rahul got a chance to bat for the first time in the third ODI in New Chandigarh and scored 129* off 87.
Edited by Renin Wilben Albert
