Former Indian captain Rahul Dravid called on Virat Kohli not to make any changes to a winning combination ahead of Sunday’s much-anticipated Champions Trophy final between India and Pakistan, reported PTI on Friday.
“I think Virat has to stick to what’s worked well for him. India loves chasing, we saw that today,” said Dravid. “They have got some really experienced players who have played in big pressure games, they know how to handle these kind of situations and I think this is a tactic that works for them.”
The former India Under-19 coach also backed India’s strategy of going slow at the start of an innings before speeding up at the end. “People might question why are you only getting 4.8 run average in the first 10 but you know that’s how they like to set up their innings with Rohit and Shikhar, knowing fully well that they have got the power at the back end of the likes of you know, Hardik Pandya, Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Jadeja,” said Dravid.
The 44-year-old also suggested that India should continue their strategy of chasing a target as India had the batsmen in hand. “I think if you get Pakistan chasing in the final, anything above 280, you would be happy,” he said.
From a Pakistani perspective, Dravid felt Sarfaraz Ahmed’s team will have something to prove. “They are going to need people like Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez, their two most experienced players to really step up if they want to win this game,” he added.