'Don't make changes': Yuvraj's warning to Gambhir and management ahead of 2027 WC

ROHIT SHARMA, VIRAT KOHLI

India's preparations for the 2027 ODI World Cup have already brought one major question into focus: what will their squad look like when the tournament gets underway in October?The World Cup will be staged in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, with India aiming to win the title for the third time after falling short in the 2023 final. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli having retired from the other formats of international cricket, their availability for the 50-over showpiece remains a key talking point.

Amid the uncertainty, India's 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh has stressed the importance of one thing above all else: consistency.Speaking to Cricinfo,

Yuvraj

said India should settle on a core group of 16 to 20 players and give them regular opportunities in the limited number of ODIs available before the World Cup."They need to focus on building the same team to play in a year's time, because you don't want to make big changes at the last moment," Yuvraj Singh said.The former all-rounder believes regular game time will be particularly important with the ODI calendar becoming increasingly limited compared to T20 cricket."Whoever your players are, whether they are 16 or 20, it's important that everybody gets game time because obviously now there are more T20S and less 50-over cricket. Whatever matches there are, it's important that players get enough game time to prepare for the World Cup," he added.

Yuvraj Singh warns against last-minute changes

Yuvraj pointed to India's past struggles at major tournaments and argued that sudden changes close to a World Cup can disrupt a team's preparations."Every time India has faltered is when they've made some massive changes at the last moment or in the tournament. So I think it's important that we stick to a team that we believe can lift the 2027 World Cup and stick by those guys whether they fail or succeed till that moment.

Belief in the squad is very important," Yuvraj further said.He also cited India's success in the 2024 and 2026 T20 World Cups as an example of how developing a settled group can help a team prepare for a major tournament. India also reached the 50-over World Cup final in 2023."That's something that we have also done in the last two T20 World Cups," Yuvraj said. "We also played the 50-over World Cup final [in 2023]. So we have had a lot of consistency in white-ball cricket. And that's what they need to do as well, to think of first qualifying for the semis and then going on to play in the last two [knockout matches]. I think that's a long way ahead. Focus should be on getting a squad ready, which is together and ready to fight in any situation," the star former all-rounder further went on to say.