ICC World Cup: India haven't identified their core team, says Bishen Bedi

New Delhi With little over a week to go for the cricket World Cup spin legend Bishan Singh Bedi feels India are addressing their injury concerns too late in the dayand the defending champions have still not identified their core teamBishan Singh BediInjured players Rohit Sharma Bhuvneshwar Kumar Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma will be tested on February 7 a day before the Men in Blue play their first warmup game against Australia and Bedi believes that the team management has left things too late Having been in Australia for twoandahalfmonths they have not really touched base with the nucleus of the teamFive or six players should form the crux of the team who remain a certainty in every match One or two changes can happen on the pretext of changing a combination or resting a player but by and large six or seven players should be constant throughout and that hasnt happened so far Bedi told PTI in an interviewI feel pretty strongly that why is this team being tested so late You are testing the fitness of players a day before the warmups begin and you are leaving things too late This should have happened very early he said The former Indian captain asserted that his logical complain pertains to the late fitness test of some of the playersEven if changes have to happen on medical grounds then it is too late There is hardly any time left for players to be sent back and replacements to be flown in he argued Admitting that it will be difficult to bounce back from a belowpar performance in the Tests and the recentlyconcluded triseries in Australia Bedi suggests that the only way out for the team is to raise their selfesteem which according to him is at an alltime lowThey have to individually raise their selfesteem How they do it its entirely up to them Selfesteem is a very individual effort Selfesteem is how good you feel about yourself in your own eyes Not in the eyes of the public or the media or the coach or captain Bedi opined That will only happen if you have done something good and that hasnt happened so far Selfesteem is very low and I am concerned about that To raise ones selfesteem is to cross a big psychological barrier he addedBedi who was part of the famous Indian spin quartet of the 1970s said that India should not be stressing too much on their muchhyped opener against Pakistan instead the defending champions should be looking at the larger picture Pakistan have also seen little success in the recent past Unhone kaunsa kaddoo mein teer maara hai Even they have not done anything worthwhileBut we should not look at Pakistan like that Our canvas should increase We should look at the bigger picture The big picture should be the World Cup itself Bedi said Dont forget India is defending the title So every team wants to beat India even Afghanistan because India are the holders of the trophy So the onus is on India they cannot turn around and say that they have nothing to lose he saidNow that they have won the World Cup they only have to hang on there Whats more to get so they can only come down from here else hold on to their glory he added Bedi who captained India in 22 Tests during his 13yearlong career from 196679 said that it is a very open World Cup and difficult to predict a winnerVery difficult to predict the finalfour or winners in this edition as it is a very open World Cup This is the most exciting part of this World Cup it is veryopen At least five or six teams are in the hunt Australia South Africa New Zealand India England they all are in the frayEven Sri Lanka and Pakistan cannot be ruled out Especially teams who have not won the coveted prize will of course be more hungry like South Africa England and New Zealand Bedi said Terming Indias 1983 Prudential World Cup win as the turning point of Indian cricket Bedi said that the Sachin Tendulkar era was also responsible for taking things forwardI think 1983 was the turning point although it happened in a very flukish manner But whatever happens in somebodys destiny it happens in this manner So yes that was the turning point and subsequently it was hugely capitalised by Sourav Ganguly Rahul Dravid VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar They were very instrumental in taking Indian cricket forward he saidGetting poetic about how things have changed since his participation in the first two World Cups in 1975 and 79 Bedi said that the game has witnessed a sea change and wished the side luck for the 11th edition Importance of playing in a World Cup has changed from 1975 to now Woh toh ibtada thi ab toh inteha hai that wasthe beginning now it is the extreme But now I wish them luck while sitting here Honour of responsibility lies with the boys because they have to do it on the field On the field they are on their own he concluded