(Image source from: www.sbs.com.au)

Selection panel of Indian cricket Team will meet on Friday i.e February 15 to pick the squad for the upcoming home series against Australia.

It will be last international games before 2019 World Cup in England which commence from May 30 and go on till 14July 2019.2.12

Indian team set to play two T20Is and five ODIs with Australia

The main focus during the meet would be to balance the workload of senior players by resting certain members who have been playing consistently over the past few months.

Captain Virat Kohli was part of the same rotation strategy that saw him rested for the 2 ODIs and 3 T20Is against New Zealand.

Selectors most likely give rest to Vice Captain Rohit Sharma in this series.

KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane could return to the team and may be their last chance to impress ahead of World Cup.

According to media reports, BCCI official said, “Workload management of the senior players will definitely be the main area of discussion as we all know that the Indians have been on the road and the selectors and team management have made a conscious effort to ensure that the players get ample rest between games and series. Like you saw, regular skipper Virat Kohli was rested for the back end of the New Zealand series. You might see Rohit Sharma rested for some games here.”

“But it is also important to note that the Indians would want to keep the foot on the pedal and ensure that they don't give the Australians any momentum going into the World Cup. A good series against India would mean a confidence booster for the team. So, there has to be a balance so that the composition of the team is not affected,” he explained.

Regarding Indian players to be rested in some games of IPL, which starts from March. Coach Ravi Shastri said, “We've been in touch with the BCCI and CoA in this regard. We have certain plans in place and we'll be looking to follow them. Usually, the two months of IPL are seen as relatively free months for me and I can just sit down and enjoy the cricket, watch out for new, young talents that keep emerging. But this IPL will be about monitoring the players, keeping the World Cup in mind.”

-Sai Kumar