New Chandigarh: India captain Shubman Gill says the team has run out of room for experimentation ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup and wants to lock in its preferred playing combination starting from the next series.
A series win with questions
Gill spoke at the press conference after India lost the third ODI to the West Indies by five wickets on Saturday. The visitors chased down 352 — a record chase, their first-ever successful pursuit of a 350-plus target in ODIs — to hand India their first home ODI defeat to the Caribbean side since December 2019. India still took the three-match series 2-1.
"I honestly think there is not that much time to experiment. The combination that we want to play, hopefully we get all the players that are available from the next series, and the combination that we would like to play in the World Cup, we want to start playing with that combination," Gill said.
The missing pieces
India were without several first-choice players during the series. Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were on Asian Games duty in Japan, where the T20I squad won the gold medal, while Hardik Pandya and Harshit Rana were injured and Prasidh Krishna missed the decider with a left hamstring issue.
"It has been unfortunate, you know, with the injuries and with the scheduling with the other matches being around... we were unable to play the bowling line-up that we would like," Gill said, adding it had been a good chance for newer players to showcase their skills. The series handed debuts to Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi and Anshul Kamboj.
New Zealand tour next
With the global showpiece about a year away, Gill wants his stars back on the field by the next assignment — an away all-format tour of New Zealand starting next month, comprising five ODIs, five T20Is and two Tests.
Sources:
The Indian Express — Shubman Gill admits India don't have time to 'experiment' ahead of World Cup
Hindustan Times — 'No time to experiment': Shubman Gill hints at end of road for Auqib Nabi, Anshul Kamboj in India's ODI World Cup 2027 plans
A series win with questions
Gill spoke at the press conference after India lost the third ODI to the West Indies by five wickets on Saturday. The visitors chased down 352 — a record chase, their first-ever successful pursuit of a 350-plus target in ODIs — to hand India their first home ODI defeat to the Caribbean side since December 2019. India still took the three-match series 2-1.
"I honestly think there is not that much time to experiment. The combination that we want to play, hopefully we get all the players that are available from the next series, and the combination that we would like to play in the World Cup, we want to start playing with that combination," Gill said.
The missing pieces
India were without several first-choice players during the series. Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were on Asian Games duty in Japan, where the T20I squad won the gold medal, while Hardik Pandya and Harshit Rana were injured and Prasidh Krishna missed the decider with a left hamstring issue.
"It has been unfortunate, you know, with the injuries and with the scheduling with the other matches being around... we were unable to play the bowling line-up that we would like," Gill said, adding it had been a good chance for newer players to showcase their skills. The series handed debuts to Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi and Anshul Kamboj.
New Zealand tour next
With the global showpiece about a year away, Gill wants his stars back on the field by the next assignment — an away all-format tour of New Zealand starting next month, comprising five ODIs, five T20Is and two Tests.
Sources:
The Indian Express — Shubman Gill admits India don't have time to 'experiment' ahead of World Cup
Hindustan Times — 'No time to experiment': Shubman Gill hints at end of road for Auqib Nabi, Anshul Kamboj in India's ODI World Cup 2027 plans
