Dravid says he hopes to identify core group by end of England series

BENGALURU: India head coach Rahul Dravid on Sunday said that he would like to identify the core group for the T20 World Cup by the end of the England series.

Dravid wants to have a fair idea about the “top-18 to 20” players who he would be looking at ahead of the showpiece in Australia later this year. “As you come closer and closer to the event, you want to firm up your final squad. Obviously, you want to have some contingencies in the kind of world we live in today. You want to take only 15 to the World Cup, but [need to identify] the top-18 to 20 players,” Dravid said after India drew the South Africa T20I series 2-2.

“Obviously, there could be odd changes due to injury and things that are beyond our control but we are going to start looking to firm up that squad as quickly as possible. Whether that will happen in the next series (Ireland) or the series after that (England) is hard to tell, but we are certainly looking to do that as quickly as possible,” added Dravid.

The chief coach said that the team’s mantra in the home T20I series against South Africa was to play positively. “As a group, we wanted to play a certain brand of cricket. We were trying to play a slightly more positive and attacking brand of cricket right from the beginning. We knew when we try and do that, it was not always going to come off. But, we are certainly clear about the kind of cricket we want to play.”

Thorough analysis of Australian conditions

Dravid is known to rely a lot on data analysis and loves to gather information on playing conditions and oppositions. “Lots of our boys have played in Australia (while talking about the T20 World Cup) and we certainly will be having conversations with them on what kind of tactics and strategies work,” said Dravid.

“In terms of data and analysis, we will look at all games played in Australia. Obviously, there are international games, there is the Big Bash League. I mean, we will do all our research and background things that happen in terms of analysis.”