Important for the core players to play most of the ODI games ahead of the World Cup 2023: Sunil Gavaskar

Former Indian veteran batter Sunil Gavaskar on Friday sent a stern message to Team India ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023. Gavaskar warned Team India not to rest core players in the future one-day international (ODI) series.

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Gavaskar believes that the Indian players shouldn’t focus on taking breaks often and instead stick with the team to build a strong squad for the tournament. He advised that the management should not give too much of break to the players. He believes that in order to win the World Cup, the team needs to gel well in the time that’s left.

“I hope there is not too much chopping and changing. I also hope there is not too much of giving a break now. Then the combination takes a long time to gel when you come into the World Cup. And then in World Cup, there is no matches where you can afford to lose. So it is very important that the core plays all matches.

Yes, there will be an odd player coming in somewhere when you need an extra bowler or a batter. But the core has to play every single one-day game. No rest. You are playing for India. No rest. You want to win the World Cup. And for that, you need that combination to be absolutely gelling every single game,” said the 73-year-old.

Dhawan has been the most regular member of the ODI side since 2019 and has in fact even led the team on numerous occasions in the absence of some regular stars, the most recent being in the New Zealand tour.

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Gill, on the other hand, has been looking to cement his place in the ODI squad and become the primary choice opener for India. In 15 ODIs so far, the youngster has scored 687 runs at 57.2 with one century and four fifties.

Prior to this ongoing first ODI between Bangladesh and India, the Men in Blue had played 27 ODIs since 2021. India’s skipper Rohit Sharma had featured in nine of those games and KL Rahul had played ten out of the 27 games. Former skipper Virat Kohli had represented the side in 11 of those games.