ICC World Cup 2019 | India have right combination for World Cup, says Rahul Dravid

There have been few objections over Dinesh Karthik’s selection ahead of Rishabh Pant, even though the chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad made a claim that they have selected Karthik, keeping the latter’s wicket-keeping in mind. On the other hand, Ambati Rayudu’s exclusion from the team in favour of Vijay Shankar has also been a talking point, but Dravid attested to the team selection saying it is a perfect combination.

“In the last 30 months, India has been playing really well, and the loss, much to the credit the way Australia played, came at the back end of a very busy series,” Dravid was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

“We have the right combination for the World Cup. If India wins the World Cup, we will not be worrying about who won 2-3 or 3-2. There will be an odd series that India will lose. But the rankings prove that India is there and should win the World Cup to become No.1.”

20 years ago, when England last hosted a World Cup, Dravid was the highest run-scorer for India, scoring 461 runs at an average of 65.85 which included a couple of centuries as well. On being asked if the wicket would behave similarly, the conditions now are far different from back then.

“I expect the games to be totally different than in 1999 when England last hosted the World Cup, which was a slightly low-scoring affair,” he recalled. This World Cup will probably be a much high scoring one, and India is well equipped for that.

"English conditions have actually changed, especially for ODIs. We were there last year for ‘A’ series, and the scores were really high – 300 was par score, and was being chased consistently. ODIs have changed in England and can’t go with the typical mindset that it will be the old English conditions [of swing and seam]. Wickets have become flatter, encouraging higher scores.”