Head coach Rahul Dravid 'really happy with how things are going' with Team India in lead-up to 2023 ODI World Cup

India may have lost the last ODI against Australia, but they ticked a lot of boxes in a 2-1 series win. It was the final white ball assignment for both teams before the 2023 ODI World Cup and it can be said that India have undoubtedly come out with flying colours. The same is the opinion of Team India head coach Rahul Dravid, who expressed his happiness with the Men in Blue's preparation for the premier 50-over tournament.

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With cricket's biggest spectacle set to begin on October 5, India have produced remarkable performances in the recent past, including glory in the 2023 Asia Cup. Rohit Sharma and Co will begin their World Cup campaign against five-time champions Australia on October 8 in Chennai. Before that, they will face England and Netherlands in warm-up matches on September 30 and October 3, respectively.

After Australia managed to end the series on a positive note in Rajkot on Wednesday, coach Dravid said that he was satisfied with India's final-stage preparations for the World Cup and the amount of game time that each player got. He specifically mentioned the names of some of the players who have returned from injury and their impressive performance against a quality team like Australia will surely boost the team's confidence.

"For people like Jasprit, Ashwin, Shreyas, KL, getting game time was important, and getting that against a competitive side is a good thing. The practice games are generally 15 vs 15 so it's hard to get that level of intensity in those games. Jasprit got a couple of games, and bowled his quota of 10 overs. Siraj suffered from a bug but got back and was able to bowl today. It was good to see how Ashwin bowled in the first two games," Dravid said.

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"KL and his keeping through fifty overs, returning after 6 months, has been great. Shreyas has got some good knocks in the last couple of games. Really happy with how things are going and hopefully we can keep the momentum going into the World Cup. There are always areas you want to improve on, and we have ticked a lot of boxes," he continued.

I'm expecting everybody to be there at Guwahati: Dravid

Dravid admitted that the team had faced problems due to the viral fever that has swept across India. Notably, Ishan Kishan had to sit out of the last ODI due to the same problem. However, the former India cricketer said he is expecting all the World Cup squad members to be in Guwahati by September 28 or 29.

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"We've had a few issues with viral (fever) going around the group. It was a balancing act in this game, because of people going home for personal reasons, and a team leaving for the Asian Games tonight, so some guys like Rutu and Tilak had to join that team. I'm expecting everybody to be there at Guwahati by 28th night or 29th early morning, and hopefully the bug going around the ground has cleared up as well,” Dravid said.