The 2027 ODI World Cup, which will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, is over 15 months away, but India's preparation starts in earnest this week against England in the three-match series. Here are some of the talking points for India as part of their broad planning.
The Rohit question - Gill gives a thumbs up
No 40-year-old has played at a World Cup for India. Rohit Sharma aims to become the first. He has the pedigree to prove he is worthy contender to open along with captain Shubman Gill at the World Cup. But since he became an ODI-only player in 2025 and since Gill replaced him as the captain, the question crops up ahead of every bilateral ODI series India have played since: is Rohit still good enough to be part of the Indian team?
Absence of regular matches combined with fitness issues make that question relevant once again in England. In IPL 2026, Rohit played in nine of Mumbai Indians' (MI) 14 matches, scoring 283 runs at an average of over 35 and strike rate over 157. He played a few games as impact player and sat out when MI bowled as a hamstring issue bothered him and forced him to miss some of the matches. In the three-match series against Afghanistan that immediately followed the IPL, Rohit made 16, 48 and 79. Impressive, but solid? The England series, in the words of Gill, is the true "big" test for players and could provide a better answer.
In terms of numbers, Rohit will argue he has been among India's best batters since the 2023 World Cup. In fact, he is the only Indian batter to score over 1000 runs in this period. And since last July after Gill succeeded him as ODI captain, Rohit is only behind Virat Kohli on aggregate runs. When it comes to ODI World Cups, Rohit is fourth on the list of all-time run-scorers.
Asked if Kohli and Rohit, the two most experienced players in India, remain pivotal for the World Cup, Gill gave his unequivocal support: "Virat bhai and Rohit bhai have been the backbone of India's batting line-up for the past decade. And they remain a very integral part of our team. The experience and the skill that they bring to the team is obviously very valuable. We have seen what they have done over the past decade in different conditions repetitively, consistently in number of matches, different tournaments, different occasions."
Bumrah returns to ODIs after near-three-year hiatus
India have played 26 ODIs since they lost to Australia in the 2023 World Cup final. Jasprit Bumrah did not play any of those matches. Injuries and two T20 World Cups in this period meant the selectors selectively picked him for bilateral series. With T20s not the focus until the LA28 Olympics and ODIs taking priority, the best fast bowler in the world is likely to build his workload steadily for next year's World Cup.
Bumrah adds the much-needed sharpness to India's fast-bowling pack, which comprises Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar along with Prince Yadav. Having delivered a full-fledged bowling session on Sunday, Bumrah did light bowling on the main ground on Monday with bowling coach Morne Morkel and team trainer Adrian le Roux observing closely.
The England series is also the first time since the IPL that Bumrah will bowl and Gill said he expected the senior strike bowler to cope with the increased workload. "Boom bhai [Bumrah] is coming into the set-up after a bit of time. And hopefully he has had a good number of the overs leading up to this one-day series."
The absence of a quality allrounder
In 2023, after Hardik Pandya was forced to abort the World Cup early due to a freak injury, India's selectors promptly started their quest to find another seam-bowling allrounder who could bolster the balance of the side. Nearly three years since, Hardik continues to remain the standout candidate. Not only is India's premier allrounder out with an injury, they are also missing Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana, contenders to perform the all-round role, because of injuries.
Gill admitted that India were looking to get Reddy and Rana ready for the World Cup by giving them opportunities, but it was frustrating to not have them both fit now. "Players like these, we wanted to make them play as many matches as possible before the World Cup because they would feel settled by the time if they got the opportunity to play in the World Cup," he said. "So in that sense we are a bit unfortunate because now that they are injured, we would need to play another combination. The playing XI or 12 we wanted to play before the series we can't play that now. In that sense we are forced to make some changes but it is not an unsettled XI.
"Obviously, we wanted players to get more experience in some areas in such a big series like England or the New Zealand one later this year. If players get more chances in the big series in pressure situation going forward, then they will get good chance to perform."
What about Dube?
On Monday, Shivam Dube bowled on the main ground on pre-set lengths by Morkel, who stood behind the wicket. A couple of hours later, Rohit had a chat with Dube urging him to focus on certain stuff. Since making his ODI debut in 2019, Dube has played only four times.
In terms of speed, Dube, 33, is behind Rana and probably even Reddy, who bulked up before IPL 2026 to become quicker. Dube can bowl the mean short delivery but can he sustain the pressure? As a batter, he is definitely better than Rana and at par with Reddy. But if Hardik, Reddy and Rana are all fit is Dube dispensable? This England series has given him another opportunity to prove his USP.