Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has urged the Indian team management not to make too many changes to India’s ODI squad over the course of the next 13 months before the ICC ODI World Cup 2027.
There have been a lot of rumours regarding the spots of veteran batting duo Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the lead-up to the mega event, with Hitman facing more heat during the recent three-match ODI series against England.
“They need to focus on building the same team to play in a year’s time, because you don’t want to make big changes at the last moment,” Yuvraj Singh told Cricinfo.
“Whoever your players are, whether they are 16 or 20, it’s important that everybody gets game time because obviously there are more T20s and less 50-over cricket. Whatever matches there are, it’s important that players get enough game time to prepare for the World Cup,” he added.
Further, Yuvraj highlighted how India have faltered when they have made too many changes before World Cup events. After returning scores of 26 and 10 in the first two ODIs in England, Rohit scored 138 in the third match at Lord’s.
“Every time India have faltered is when they’ve made some massive changes at the last moment or in the tournament. So I think it’s important that we stick to a team that we believe can lift the 2027 World Cup and stick by those guys whether they fail or succeed till that moment. Belief in the squad is very important,” Yuvraj noted.
“That’s something that we have also done in the last two T20 World Cups. We also played the 50-over World Cup final [in 2023]. So we have had a lot of consistency in white-ball cricket. And that’s what they need to do as well to think of first qualifying for the semis and then going on to play in the last two \[knockout matches\]. I think that’s a long way ahead. Focus should be to get a squad ready which is together and ready to fight in any situation,” he concluded.
