Everyone should know that they have fighting chance in World Cup: Sangakkara

Speaking on Star Sports show 'Road to World Cup Glory', former Sri Lanka cricketer Kumar Sangakkara spoke on how the Indian squad will have to be rotated around its core in order to effectively prepare for the ICC Men's ODI World Cup this year, he said "I think T20 has impacted all formats including test cricket positively, but the real key is having your best players available to play for you in the World Cup. And you can't sustain all your best players playing back-to-back cricket in every format and expect all of them to be fit and ready, you have to really manage the workload, you can have squads of 20, 30 whatever you want but at the end of the day, you got to identify very early what your core side is, what the core is going to be around which you build all the other players to add on. Because if you take the Indian side, everyone knows what the core is, everyone knows who the most important players are and you have a strenuous season ahead. So, you got to be really smart about how you control the workload. And you have the IPL, you have all of the other cricket. But if it's a one-day world cup year, that's got to be the main focus. Your best players have to play a lot of ODI cricket, the rest that is in support can be rotated around them, but everyone should know that they stand a fighting chance to be in that 15. They must play enough ODI cricket, get enough cricket in their legs and bodies, to make sure they are fit, that they know how to play the ODI game in this year, and they are fluent and they play together as a team. And that their ODI skill levels are at peak so they can go ahead and win the world cup, so that's got to be their main target, irrespective of what happens around them."

Many experts believe that a wider pool of players should be in the reckoning for the World Cup while others agree that the team should be built around its core.

Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan gave us his views on whether a contingent of 20 players is enough to select a squad for the ICC Men's ODI World Cup later this year, he said "World Cup is still nine months away, you can't have just 20 players and just rotate them and think that you're going to find those players only above the rest. And it's not happening, look being a part of NCA in terms of coaching courses, and knowing those coaches what they have done now, they have had a clear communication between Indian cricket, with Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and the coaches. There were 33 target list of players, apart from the contracted list what we have, so that's a very big pool of players we are talking about, not just 20. 20 can't be enough, because if something goes wrong with those 20, be it injuries or form, nine months is a long period of time you need a bigger pool of players, and this is where you're going to find them. And those 33 target list of players, can practise anytime, and they can work with the coaches. Some of the coaches have different players like Rajib Datta has 13 players, 13 spinners work with him, there are 13 batters with Apurva Desai, and there are other coaches, they can go and work anytime. And they actually get old data, they send it to Rahul Dravid and work together and that's what needs to be done. And this is the right way forward. And if that has to happen consistently, this is where we are going to become world beaters, not just with 20 players."

The BCCI has shortlisted 20 players for the ICC World Cup 2023 in October to be held in India. (ANI)