The schedule is out for the 50-over World Cup, cricket’s biggest tournament, to be played next year in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Last edition’s finalists India and Australia will play the opener in Cape Town on October 7. Defending champions Australia have already started their training regimen for the tournament. But with less than a year remaining, India seem unsettled.
The recent high-scoring series against West Indies may look like a positive step, but it was not an ideal outing. At least five players who are likely to be named to the ODI World Cup team—Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel and Ishan Kishan—were playing T20Is at the Asian Games in Japan during the Caribbean series. Captain Shubman Gill, despite winning the series, has spoken about chiselling out a few issues. Since taking over as skipper in late 2025, Gill is yet to have his preferred playing 11. Hardik Pandya has not played an ODI since the 2025 Champions Trophy. Bumrah has played only two 50-over matches in this period. Not to mention the constant injury cloud over all-rounders like Nitish Reddy and Washington.
This is not a healthy situation to be in. The 2023 ODI World Cup build-up was riddled with injuries. But the team was skippered by the experienced Rohit Sharma, had led India intermittently since 2017 and had already won five Indian Premier League titles as the Mumbai Indians’ leader. He had experience and played in home conditions. Gill, despite growing as a leader in the last two years, needs more time with the team. The players keep getting injured because of the cramped schedule. And the team will be under pressure especially because India have not won the ODI World Cup since 2011.
If Rohit and Virat Kohli play, they will be the most experienced players. But for Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir to end India’s drought, they need a mature team with loads of experience in diverse conditions. They are trying out Reddy and Suryansh Shedge may also be in the mix. But without Bumrah and Pandya, India’s bowling looks ordinary at the highest level. It is time the cricket board started working towards the World Cup with a settled team.
