Dravid after Hardik exit: 'Enough quality in our top seven to look after itself'

The dreaded scenario is here. Probably the second-most irreplaceable player - just after Jasprit Bumrah - is out for the tournament for India. There is no getting away from the reality that for Hardik Pandya to be properly replaced, two players are needed.

However, the good thing for India is that it has happened in phases, and they have already trialed an XI without that allrounder in it. And they have kept winning. In doing so, they had to adjust their combination and lose the comfort zone of extra batting cushion at No. 8 and also manage without the security of the sixth bowler.

Rahul Dravid, India's coach, is confident they can rise to the challenge of the missing sixth bowler, and said that they are not thinking too much about the runs the No. 8 can give them. Anyway you don't say the batting ends at no. 7 because, in the words of Dravid, "Booms [Jasprit Bumrah] will take exception to that. Watch out for him in the corridor."

"I don't think we are going to think about it too much," Dravid said when asked if not having that extra batting security has affected the main batters at all. "I think there's only been one game where we've probably felt the need for Nos. 8 and 9, which was the game against England in Lucknow, and actually after the seventh wicket, the next couple of wickets gave us 46 critical runs on a tricky wicket.

"So I think we got to have confidence in our 8, 9, 10, 11," he added. "The ones that we have now, I think they are working very hard and they are doing the best that they can. And I don't think the batsmen really, to be honest, need to think about it or worry about it. I think if you play good cricket through the 50 overs and play according to the situation and what the demands of the game are, I think there's enough quality in that top seven to look after itself."

Dravid took comfort in knowledge that when Pandya was rested for the ODIs against Australia before the World Cup, their five specialist bowlers were enough to win them matches. And they were not even their best five.

"He just said the facts," Dravid said, when told how Temba Bavuma pointed out that India have only five bowlers now. "The sixth option is something that Hardik gave us. But we have been playing the last four games without the sixth bowling option. We also played a couple of games in the Australia series before the World Cup without the sixth option. We won two of our games, both in Mohali and in Indore, when we played only with five bowling options in those games as well.

"So, we have responded really well to that challenge. Yes, of course, we probably won't have that sixth bowling option in these games, but the response of the team and the players has been really good when we have not had it. So, I think we have played enough games without having it. And we seem to have done pretty well."

It is also just as well that Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer have hit form just in time then. Especially Gill, who missed the start of the tournament with dengue, an illness not easy to recover from as quickly as Gill has.

"Shubman's obviously coming back," Dravid said. "He was in such good form and playing so well. It was just a little unfortunate for him that he picked up dengue at the start of the tournament. And it's taken him a little bit of time to get over that. I think we underestimate the kind of effect something like that can have on you, and then having to come out and play in the heat and travel. And it's been quite a hectic tournament as well. So sometimes you do underestimate how much of an impact that can have on your body. It is really nice for him to be able to grind out some really good runs for us in Bombay."