Last Update on: November 21st, 2023 at 09:45 pm
Former India National Cricket Team opening batsman Gautam Gambhir has highlighted one of the key reasons behind the failure of the Men In Blue in the ICC tournaments.
Under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, India failed to capture the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 title at home. They looked firm favorites to clinch the trophy and headed into the final with a 10-match winning streak. However, India failed to cross the final hurdle and faced a 6-wicket heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Australia National Cricket Team.
Speaking to Sportskeeda, Gambhir talked about India’s batting approach and he said that India weren’t courageous enough, which is why they weren’t able to put up a big score on the board. He added that one of the main reasons behind India’s failures in ICC events is not being able to play an attacking brand of cricket. He elaborated:
“I have always maintained this – the most courageous team will go on to win the World Cup. I can understand that for some time you want to build a partnership. But 11-40 overs is a very long period of time. India should have accelerated and taken a risk at that stage.
“I actually would have liked India going really aggressive with the top six, seven batters. Even if they got all out for 150, I would have been fine. But you scored 240 and thought you can fight. In World Cup finals, you don’t fight – it has to be either this way or that way.
“That is the approach I would have taken. Either we go 150 all out or 300. That is what India has lacked and this is why India has not gone on to win ICC tournaments,” Gambhir said.
Probably Rohit should have sent that message…- Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir opined that the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma should have given a clear message to his batters to play aggressively even after his dismissal with Virat Kohli being the only anchor in the line-up. He said:
“Probably Rohit should have sent that message before the start of the game that even if I get out, we are going aggressive. Virat’s role is to anchor the innings from one end but rest all the other batters go hard. If you are able to take five singles in an over, that is also called positive cricket. But, if you are playing 4-5 dot balls in an over, the game is going nowhere.”
Gautam Gambhir further said that India weren’t brave enough in the summit clash against the Aussies and that is why they lost the match.
“If Virat was in, KL should have gone. He should have said that, I am going to take those risks. We might have got out for 150, but imagine if we were brave and had scored 310, you could have won the World Cup. India were not brave enough, courageous enough and that’s where we lost the finals,” Gautam Gambhir concluded.
