Hardik only recently returned to full fitness after dealing with a back condition that he’s had to manage over the past few years. The upcoming ODIs against Sri Lanka, where he’ll be vice-captain, will be his first one-dayers since the tour of England in July 2022.
Irfan also said having an out-and-out quick in Umran Malik will give India’s pace attack the X-factor, especially on flat decks where the ball may not seam much. Gambhir, meanwhile, welcomed Jasprit Bumrah’s return, saying he will be the team’s biggest strength at the World Cup.
‘Take a break from T20 cricket, not ODIs’ – Gambhir
Workload management amid an increasingly packed calendar has been a hot topic of late, with India rotating players and not often fielding a first-choice XI. If this is the case in 2023 as well, Gambhir said, the focus should be on having first-choice players play ODIs and rest during T20I series or the IPL.
“This year [the core group should be focusing on] ODIs for sure. If they want to take a break, people who are playing all the three formats, they can definitely take a break from T20 cricket but surely not from ODI format. They have got to play together – I think the biggest mistake Indian cricket has made in the last probably two World Cups has been that they [the core players], these guys have not played enough cricket [in the lead up to the World Cups] together.
“Tell me how many times have we got the best playing XI on the park? We haven’t. Only during the World Cup we decide to have the best playing XI… The break has to happen in the T20 format and not 50 overs.
“And from the [IPL] franchisee point of view, [if] franchises have to suffer, they have to suffer. Indian cricket is the main stakeholder, not the IPL, the IPL is just the byproduct. So if India goes on to win the World Cup, that is the big ovation.”