INDORE: Skipper Rohit Sharma said India could be at a disadvantage going into the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia from October 16, expressing, had the team arrived the venue early it would have given the boys, many of them new to the conditions, more time to adjust and play on "some bouncy pitches in Perth".
Though India won both of its home T20I series against Australia and South Africa, Sharma said that given that they haven't yet arrived in Australia and haven't played on its bouncy wickets, the squad may have been left exposed.
"We wanted to travel early because several of the men hadn't been to Australia. In Perth, let's play on some springy fields and see what we can do. Only 7-8 of the 15 players have visited there before, so we wanted to try and get there early," said Sharma following Tuesday night's third and final T20I between India and South Africa at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in this city, in which India lost by a score of 49 runs.
India defeated South Africa 2-1 to win the series.
Sharma said, India has scheduled some exhibition games in Australia, which should provide his squad valuable experience using the Australian playing surfaces. Sharma added, "We've planned a few practise games. Jasprit Bumrah's absence from the World Cup campaign due to a stress fracture in his back, according to Sharma, was a "huge miss," but it provided an opportunity for several other bowlers to make their voices heard. "Bumrah is a significant miss, but a couple guys are still in the running. When we go to Australia, we'll make the decision. The team will keep exploring for more options in the powerplay, middle, and death overs, the skipper said, noting that bowling was a concern coming into the championship game.
We agreed as a team that no matter what happened with the outcome, there is always potential for improvement. Even if we excel in all three areas, we want to keep improving. We must assess our bowling and determine what additional possibilities we may find in the powerplay, middle, and death. We had to go back and evaluate what we could have done better because we were playing two top-notch teams (South Africa and Australia).
"It will be difficult, and we need to find solutions; we are currently working on that. It's my responsibility to ensure that it happens because guys need to be much clearer about what they want to accomplish. We want to keep doing it, he said.
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