India finished fourth and fifth in the ODI World Cup almost 18 months ago, but injuries to three batsmen quickly hit their jobs, coach Rahul Dravid said on Tuesday.
Dravid said that injuries to Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant have forced the team management to experiment with other middle-order players recently and this was not an experiment just because of that.

- There was a lot of discussion about Places No. 4 and 5, and it gives the impression that we were not clear who was there. I could tell you 18-19 months ago who the three candidates are for the two seats.
“It was always between Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant. There was no doubt," Dravid said at India's pre-departure meeting ahead of the Asia Cup.

- It is unfortunate that all three were injured within two months. What is the probability of this happening? All three men who pushed these two points were seriously injured, had to go under the knife.
“So, you have to react to it, put other people in those places, and see who can do it. They are not fit for the World Cup. In that situation, we tried some people."

The former Indian captain added, "The word (experiment) is thrown around without any thought. It's not that we experiment for the sake of experimenting, sometimes there are specific reasons for it."


Pant was sidelined with multiple injuries in a horrific car accident on the Dehradun-Delhi highway in December last year, while Iyer and Rahul suffered back injuries in March and May.
Both Iyer and Rahul have improved and are part of India's Asia Cup squad. However, Rahul will miss the first two games due to heartburn. Iyer's back injury flared up after the fourth Border-Gavaskar Test against Australia in March. But the knock will strengthen India's middle order in the Asia Cup and World Cup.

"He looked good. Now we have to give him game time. Hopefully, we can give him that in the Asian Cup and build him up for the World Cup. He ticked all the boxes in this camp, batted, and bowled a lot,” said Dravid.
Pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna have made comebacks after long injuries and the coach is happy to have more fast bowling options at his disposal.
"It's good to have them back and to see them bowl well. Jasprit is someone we've missed a lot in the last two years, he hasn't played much. We're slowly letting him go. "Ireland was a good opportunity to relieve him. Now we have a whole month to build that before the World Cup. The return of the duo gives us more options in the bowling department.