2019 World Cup Planning Started Right After the Champions Trophy Loss - MSK Prasad

MSK Prasad, the chairman of the selectors recently admitted that they started planning for the 2019 ICC World Cup right after Indian National Cricket team’s loss to Pakistan in the 2017 Champions Trophy final in England. Meanwhile, since that loss, the men in blues have grown stronger in strength looking like as one of the title favourites for the showpiece event in May.

Virat Kohli started their 2018 with a massive 5-1 win over South Africa at their own home soil. Their winning momentum continued in the Nidahas Trophy as they won the tournament beating Bangladesh in the final. However, they received a major setback when they lost the ODI series to the top-ranked ODI side England 2-1. Since then, the winning streak is still on as they won the Asia Cup, defeated Windies and Australia consecutively. And now, they have already sealed the series 3-0 before losing the last game in Hamilton.

Preparation started in 2017

The current setup looks full set to sit on the plane to England and Wales in May. However, this is not the outcome of a single day as everybody has worked together towards building a strong team. As a result, chief selectors MSK Prasad admitted that they started preparing after the Champions Trophy loss. He also feels that they have more or less succeeded in their job and have tried to fulfil the shortcomings.

“The planning started right after the finals of the Champions Trophy in 2017. We analysed our shortcomings after that game, and we started working to fulfil those shortcomings. We tried certain new combinations and I feel we have fairly succeeded in what we wanted,” Prasad said to Cricbuzz.

However, the men in blues got a good lesson in the last outing against New Zealand. In the absence of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, they struggled to put runs on the board. Trent Boult was on song as they bowl out Inda for 92 runs with no middle-order batsman stepping up. The management will have to look for a proper no four batsman going to the World Cup.