Roadmap for WC on Agarkar’s agenda

NEW DELHI: Chairman of senior selection committee Ajit Agarkar is all set to travel to West Indies to meet head coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma to discuss the road map for 50 over World Cup starting October 5 in Ahmedabad.

India will play Australia in Chennai on October 8 and the marquee clash against Pakistan is slated for October 15 in Ahmedabad.

“Currently Salil Ankola is in the West Indies but he will be back after the Test series gets over. Ajit will be joining the team before the start of the white ball-leg,” a BCCI source in know of things said.

It is understood that Agarkar after being appointed the chairman of selection committee hasn’t had a chance to meet the team management in person and this will be an opportunity to sit and draw an elaborate blueprint on what will be India’s strategy going forward in the 50 over World Cup.

The team management and selection committee needs to be in sync about the core 20 players that they are looking for ahead of the World Cup apart from dealing with fitness issues and workload management.

Both the chairman of selectors and the team management will also discuss the transition plan. It is understood that there will be elaborate discussions on Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness status and whether he will be able to go to Ireland for the three match T20 series or not.

It can be confirmed that National Cricket Academy’s Sport Science and Medical Unit is yet to issue an RTP (Return to Play) certificate to the Ahmedabad based speedster.

Meanwhile, VVS Laxman will once again take the second string team to Ireland as has been the norm for short tours when Dravid is rested as the turnaround between West Indies and Ireland tour is short.

This hasn’t been set in stone but the convention in BCCI is that for second string tours or A series, the NCA head doubles up as the coach.

Dravid used to do that earlier and now that responsibility is Laxman’s.