"India has more than 15-20 players who can play in the World Cup"- Wasim Jaffer on importance of smaller talent pool

Former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer feels one of the major issues for Team India has been narrowing down to a small pool of talent to choose from. There was a lot of chopping and changing in the team leading into the T20 World Cup last year and that meant their first-choice XI didn't play a lot of cricket together.

Jaffer feels that having a small pool of players to choose from will help avoid confusion and each player will better understand his role with respect to the bigger picture.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo ahead of India's third ODI against Sri Lanka, here's what Wasim Jaffer had to say about experimenting with bench strength:

"I believe India has more than 15-20 players who can play in the World Cup. The main problem arises when they have to pick an XI from the pool of 20-25 players. So it's always less confusing to have a smaller pool of players to select from."

---

Team India needs continuity: Wasim Jaffer

Although India have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ODI series, Wasim Jaffer doesn't want the hosts to make any changes for the final ODI at Thiruvananthapuram.

The former cricketer feels it is important for the settled core of the team to play as many games as possible together with the ODI World Cup to be played later this year. He stated:

"I don't think that they should make any changes. This team is in need of continuity especially because this is a World Cup year. Whatever 15-18 ODIs are left, you want this bunch of players to play together. You do have options of Arshdeep, Ishan & Washington, but unless there is a niggle to anyone, I don't see any changes happening."

India’s squad for Sri Lanka ODIs: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.