JOIN USVice-captain Rohit Sharma on Thursday said India's World Cup squad is more or less settled but nobody should take his place for granted as poor form could lead to omissions.
Rohit said there could be one or two changes in the squad, which will take on Australia and New Zealand in upcoming ODI series, depending on poor form and injury in the coming months.
"The squad that plays these 13 ODIs is more or less the same squad that will go to the World Cup. There will be one or two changes, keeping in mind the form and injury concerns over the next few months," Rohit said ahead of India's first ODI against Australia here on Saturday.
The World Cup starts on May 30 in England.
India last played ODIs in Australia in 2016, and lost the five-match series 1-4. Their top-order comprising Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli had excelled back then too, but the middle order did not support them enough.
Rohit was confident that those shortcomings have been overcome especially in preparation for the World Cup.
"It's not about one or two individuals, it's about 11 of us contributing, including the 7 or 8 batters that will be playing. Individuals may win one or two games but to win the championship, the batting unit needs to come together and at some stage batsmen must put their hands up and say 'I'm going to take that challenge and make the team get through the finishing line."
Talking about individual players, Rohit said: "We saw Ambati Rayudu coming pretty good in the last series we played in India. Dinesh Karthik has done reasonably well. MS Dhoni obviously is the key factor going forward. Then there's Kedar Jadhav who brings so much to the table with his bowling, and with his ability to strike the ball at the end."
Australia will be missing the services of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins in the ODI series but Rohit said, like in 2016, the home side still has good enough bowlers to pose problems to Indian batsmen in their absence.
"These three guys don't play too much of ODI cricket if I am not wrong. The last time we came here (2016) none of these guys played and we were still beaten 1-4, so they still have quality in their attack. It's not going to be an easy walk over situation for us. We have to grind it out there, face the challenge and make sure that we put them under pressure."
Rohit was part of the Adelaide and Melbourne Test, while missing the Perth match owing to injury before flying home to attend the birth of his daughter. In doing so, he missed the Sydney Test but returned in time for celebrations with the team which clinched a maiden series win on Australian soil.
He said India did the small things right to win the series 2-1.
"If you want to win a series, you can't just look at the larger picture. You have got to focus on the smaller picture first and take one game at a time, one single moment at a time."
PTI