The ODI series between India and Australia has been a low-scoring but close-knit affair. After India won the opener, Australia bounced back with a whopping 10-wicket win in the second match. With the series decider scheduled in Chennai, a lot has been said about the encounter. India head coach Rahul Dravid, speaking in a press conference on the eve of the final, said that the team has achieved its goals from the series and would be looking to rotate a few players. However, Dravid’s comments haven’t gone down well with former Pakistan batter Salman Butt.
Butt, hitting out at Dravid, said that the entire focus should be around the third match now as the fate is the series is yet to be decided.
“Rahul Dravid said that they will keep trying different combinations. Pehle series toh jeeto! Badalna toh irrelevant hai (First win the series! Changing combinations is irrelevant). We’ve to see how you solve your batting concerns first. All this talk about team combinations… this is were the confusion starts. How much do you want to change?” Butt said in a video on his YouTube channel, criticising Dravid for his comments in the press conference.
“At this moment, all the conversations should be around the third ODI and how to win it. If someone asks a different question, you can say that it has got nothing to do with the match. He has talked a lot about combinations, this shouldn’t be so frequent.” Butt further said.
Earlier, Dravid had said that he isn’t bothered about what happens in the Chennai match as he and the support staff has gained a lot of clarity already.
“We have to a large extent (achieved our goals in nine home ODIs). We have got a lot more clarity at the end of these nine games irrespective of what happens tomorrow. We need to keep building on that clarity,” Dravid said.
“For us it is now the different playing XI combinations and just ensuring that we play different combinations at times just to ensure that we are able to do that in the World Cup and we are not surprised by anything in the World Cup,” he had explained on Tuesday.
India are expected to make one or two changes in the playing XI, with Umran Malik expected to come in.
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