World Cup 2023 IND vs NZ: Hard to replace him, says Dravid on Hardik Pandya

India coach Rahul Dravid feels that it would be hard to replace Hardik Pandya in the playing 11 who is out with an injury ahead of the all-important World Cup match against New Zealand. 

Speaking in the pre-match press conference on Saturday, October 21, Dravid said, “[He] is an important player for us and he is an important all-rounder so helps us really balance our squad out really well. But he is going to be missing this game, so we will have to work around that and see what is the best combination and what we can come up with best.”

Saying that he and the team don’t have any choice but to play without Hardik. “I mean, in the end, we've got to work with the 14 that we've got. Sometimes you do expect that these kinds of things can happen, so that's why you have got a squad,” added the 50-year-old. 

Also Read: Cricket World Cup 2023 IND vs NZ Playing 11, live match time, streaming

What would be the team combination for India?

Talking about the Team India combination, he said that the management has a lot of different combinations that they can try. “We will have to see what works best for these conditions and these wickets. But yeah, probably might not have the kind of balance that we probably used in the first four games,” said Dravid. 

“We certainly can go with the three fast bowlers or the three spinners. With that kind of combination, we still could play him [Shardul Thakur] and play Ash [R Ashwin] and move [Ravindra] Jadeja up. We are pretty clear on what our playing 11 is tomorrow. But I wouldn't want to be giving too much away,” added Dravid, saying that they would have a look at the wicket early in the morning and then decide who to play. 

Both India and New Zealand have remained unbeaten in the first four matches. They take on each other on Sunday, October 22 at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala.