Not a good sign for World Cup: Shubman Gill flags concern areas after WI series

India captain Shubman Gill said death bowling and fielding are major areas of concern for his side heading into the World Cup next year after the 3rd ODI loss to the West Indies. India were unable to defend 352 in Mullanpur, allowing the visitors to secure their highest-ever chase in ODI cricket.

This was a pattern for India in the series as they conceded more than 290 in all three matches. The last two games saw the hosts concede 405 in Guwahati and 352 in just 48.2 overs. India also dropped five catches during the series.

"Lot of boxes ticked but there are some areas that definitely need fine-tuning. Our fielding could be better. We dropped around 6-7 catches. That is not a good sign leading up to the World Cup."

"We need to work on our death bowling. We are not clear whether we're attacking or defending, especially when we are bowling the death overs. One day such a game, if the opposition is five or six down, you are never really sure what fields to take, whether we are going for the death too early or we are still bowling kind of like middle overs.

"I think these are some areas which definitely we need to be better at," said Gill at the post-match presentation.'UNFORTUNATE NOT TO HAVE BEST BOWLING LINEUP'

For the West Indies series, India were without the services of Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh, who were away on Asian Games duty. Hardik Pandya and Harshit Rana also missed the West Indies series due to fitness concerns, meaning that Mohammed Siraj was the only pacer to have played more than 100 ODIs.

Adding to this, Prasidh Krishna was ruled out of the final ODI with Anhsul Kamboj leaking runs in Mullanpur.

Gill said that with the injuries and scheduling, Indian team has been unfortunate not to have their best bowling lineup for the matches leading up to the World Cup.

"I would say it is unfortunate with the injuries and the scheduling, with other matches being around. It has been unfortunate that we haven't been able to play the bowling lineup that we would like to. But at the same time, it is not something that is in our hands."

"It is a good chance for the other players, who may not have been in the team in the team if the regulars were there, to showcase their skills," said Gill at the press conference.

India will play eight more ODIs this year with five coming during the tour to New Zealand, starting in October and three when Sri Lanka come to visit in December.- Ends