Team India’s problems have gone from bad to worse as they will have a huge selection task ahead of the final ODI against Bangladesh. With Rohit Sharma injured and set to fly back to India, the situation has been diluted as Kuldeep Sen and Deepak Chahar are also out of the final ODI in Chattogram. So, will a weaker bench strength affect Team India with the ODI World Cup also on the horizon?
Deepak Chahar, who only bowled three overs in the second ODI in Dhaka, was also ruled out of the final ODI as was Kuldeep Sen, who missed the match on Wednesday.
"All three of them won't play the next game for sure," Dravid said after the game which India lost narrowly after Rohit's late heroics.
The situation certainly leaves India with plenty of questions to be answered as the ODI World Cup is also around the corner in less than a year.
India will know the fact that teams like Australia, England and New Zealand have good bench strength and if they are to compete against them they will need to bring their A-game to the table. While the current series is against Bangladesh, there are plenty of things to be learned. India still don’t have a premier replacement for Jasprit Bumrah and could hardly do any better without them.
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On the flip side, England won the T20 World Cup in the absence of key players like Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes. On the flip side India playing with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are left exposed.
It is also worth noting that, India started the year without Rohit Sharma in the South Africa tour where they suffered a humiliating defeat to the Proteas, again highlighting the lack of bench strength. So it remains to be seen how long will Team India survive without a bench strength and the Bangladesh tour is an alarm bell for them.
