We will narrow down our options closer to World Cup: Rohit

MIRPUR: Skipper Rohit Sharma doesn’t want to clutter things by “thinking too far ahead” about the ODI World Cup and said he and head coach Rahul Dravid have a “fair idea” of how they would approach the showpiece to be held in India in October-November next year.

Asked if World Cup preparations start with the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh starting here on Sunday, Rohit made it clear that there is still time before his team can start thinking specifically about the marquee event.

“Every time you play a game, its preparing for something. The World

Cup is still 8-9 months (10 months) from now. We can’t think so far ahead. We need to keep an eye on what we need to do as team,” Rohit said ahead of the first ODI.

He said if he starts planning too early, it won’t help but also made it clear that the team think-tank knows in which direction it needs to travel.

“It is very, very important for us not to start thinking about so many things. Like we need to play this guy or that guy. Me and coach (Dravid) have fair idea what to do. We will narrow it down once we come closer to the World Cup,” he added.

A few players like wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, with this Bangladesh series, will be on the road for more than two and half months and the skipper emphasized on the requirement of workload management.

He admitted that a lot of cricket is being played and it won’t stop. It is the team and people around it who need to do the right things.

“As professionals, we have to keep up the intensity. Yes, there’s a lot of cricket and that’s why we give them breaks. And people need to understand that when we give players a break, it is only to manage the workload keeping the bigger picture in mind.

“Cricket is not going to stop. There will always be lot of cricket and we need to manage our players. You want your best players to play with higher intensity all the time. So, it is important to give them breaks, manage them as freshness is very important,” Rohit elaborated.

Every time you play a game, its preparing for something. The World Cup is still 8-9 months (10 months) from now. We can’t think so far ahead

- Rohit Sharma,

India captain