India have narrowed down on '17-18' players for World Cup, reveals Rahul Dravid

India head coach Rahul Dravid has revealed that they have already narrowed the Indian squad down to 17-18 players for the upcoming Cricket World Cup.

The 50-over World Cup is scheduled to be played later this year in October-November in India.

Since the 2019 World Cup, where India were eliminated following their semi-final loss to New Zealand, India have played 53 One-Day Internationals (ODIs). Due to injuries or workload management, Team India has had tried out a plethora of players.

However, with the World Cup only six months away, Dravid stressed that the management will now focus on giving those "in the mix" more games.

India are currently playing a home three-match ODI series against Australia. Ahead of the final game on Wednesday, the series is tied at 1-1, with the visitors bouncing back earlier this week with a 10-wicket victory in Vizag.

"Probably not going to get too many more games in our conditions. We had the opportunity to play in these conditions which is great. Yeah, coming out of the IPL to a large extent we are pretty clear about the kind of squad and the players we want. We have narrowed it down to 17-18 players," Dravid said in a pre-match conference on Tuesday.

While injuries to Jasprit Bumrah, Iyer, Prasodh Krishna, and Deepak Chahar still remain a concern, Dravid insisted that the team is in good headspace.

"We are always presuming that the wickets will spin in India. We just actually presume. I don't think the last 2 spun at all. We never know what we are going to get in the World Cup. In the league phase, nine cities, it is in October, the wickets won't be as tired as they probably are in the IPL and (that too) at the back-end of our summer. You just have to get all your bases covered," added Dravid.

A wrist spinner does give advantage to a side in middle overs, agreed Dravid.

"Obviously having a wrist spinner, if he is bowling well, is a huge advantage. Taking wickets in the middle overs is important. A wrist spinner gives that chance to be attacking and take wickets in the middle overs which is why have given Kuldeep a pretty consistent run.

"We have Yuzi (Chahal), who is unfortunately is a very fine bowler and is missing out. At the moment, we believe in giving people a consistent run before we make decisions and Kuldeep is the one that is getting the run over the last few games," the Indian head coach said.

Meanwhile, Dravid also backed Suryakumar Yadav, who has been dismissed for a golden ducks in India's last two ODIs. Dravid said that the team management is not worried about Suryakumar's poor form in the ODIs before pointing out that the 32-year-old hasn't managed to play a lot of ODI cricket, unlike his consistent run in T20 cricket, which includes the high-pressure Indian Premier League (IPL).

Earlier even India captain Rohit Sharma had shown support for Suryakumar, saying the Mumbai batter will be given an extended run in the ODIs.

Rahul Dravid: 'Not concerned about Surya's form'

Suryakumar got an opportunity in India's XI in the absence of Shreyas Iyer who was ruled out of the series due to a recurrence of his back injury. However, the senior batsman has not been able to find form in ODIs, having played 22 matches and averaging less than 25.

"Not really concerned about Surya. He got two very good balls. One of things about Surya is that he is learning the 50-overs game. The T20 is slightly different. In T20, he has played 10 years of IPL.

"He (Surya) has played a lot of T20 cricket. He has played a lot of high pressure T20 games. Like IPL for T20 cricket, there is not enough high-pressure tournaments for ODIs at the domestic level, apart from the Vijay Hazare Trophy," added Dravid.

Dravid went on to add that the management sees the "upside" of Surya doing well in the ODIs. "We need to give him some time and be patient with it. We certainly see the upside of him doing well," said Dravid.

The Indian head coach also acknowledged how unfortunate was to lose a player like Iyer in the ongoing series against Australia in the World Cup year.

While Iyer returned from a back injury for the Test series against Australia in February, a recurrence of the injury saw him get ruled out of the ODI series. The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain will mostly miss the initial few games of the IPL 2023 season, starting March 31.

"Obviously it is unfortunate for Shreyas to get injured. He is probably one of those guys who would bat at No.4 and given a lot of time at that position. If you notice we have stuck to the people in positions. For two years leading into this run, there is a lot of T20 cricket played and we did not have a lot of one-day cricket and if there are injuries and all that, we do have options," Dravid added.