Shubman Gill admits India don’t have time to ‘experiment’ ahead of World Cup

India captain Shubman Gill of India during the 3rd ODI match against the West Indies (BCCI Photo)

India captain Shubman Gill has admitted that the side now don’t have too much time to experiment going into the 2027 World Cup and wants to field the team that is likely to play in the tournament the next time a series comes around. India beat the West Indies in a three-match series that ended on Saturday. However, the series ended with them suffering their first ODI defeat to the West Indies at home since December 2019.

“I honestly think there is not that much time to experiment, the combination that we want to play, hopefully, we get all the players that are available from the next series, and the combination that we would like to play in the World Cup, we want to start playing with that combination,” Gill said in the press conference after the third ODI which India lost by five wickets.

India were missing their pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who was part of the team that won gold at the 2026 Asian Games, with the cricket tournament coinciding with the series against the West Indies. Apart from this, India were missing the injured Hardik Pandya. Gill said that the absence of players due to multiple factors was frustrating.

“I would say it’s been unfortunate, you know, with the injuries and with the scheduling with the other matches being around, it’s been a little bit unfortunate that we have been not able to play the bowling lineup that we would like to,” he said.

But Gill said it also gives an opportunity to the new set of bowlers to showcase their skills. “I think it’s a good chance for the other players, you know, the players who might have not been in the team had the full-strength bowling lineup been there, so it’s a great chance for them to showcase their skills,” he said.

Gill also felt that India dropping catches affected their momentum, particularly in the third ODI, in which West Indies captain Shai Hope scored an unbeaten 162 and powered his team’s record chase of a target of 352.

“I think we dropped around three or four catches today, and I don’t think Shai Hope was dropped, still dropping three or four catches breaks the momentum of the team. Our fielding in the series has not been up to the mark. I think in the whole series, we dropped around seven catches if I’m not wrong. And even in the field today, we gave away many runs, we were quite sloppy. And I think leading up to the World Cup, these are the areas where we definitely need to get better at,” said Gill.