The last one year or so hasn’t been memorable and ideal for Indian cricket when we talk about multi-nation tournaments. The Men in Blue slipped out of World Cup 2021 from the group stages, lost the Asia Cup 2022 and then subsequently got eliminated from the T20 World Cup 2022. It’s understandable that there are multiple factors that go hand in hand causing a defeat to the team, however, experts termed an unsettled core as a pivotal reason for the failure.
In spite of India’s prolific record in bilateral cricket, the Men in Blue haven’t won a single ICC event in the last five years. Although the Indians have managed to create close chances here and there, the trophy cabinet still remains empty.
Former Indian cricketer, Gautam Gambhir reckons frequent breaks by top Indian players have dented India’s chances of winning global trophies in cricket. Because players miss the tours often, the team gets denied of forming a settled core for a big event such as World Cup.
“You can’t keep taking breaks,” said Gautam Gambhir on Star Sports. “We need to identify the core, we’ve chopped and changed too much, we’ve never had a settled unit. The World is around the corner, and if you wanna play in the World Cup, you need to be there, be it Rohit Sharma, or Virat Kohli, they need to play consistent cricket.”
“They can’t keep taking breaks when it’s a World Cup year and suddenly by the time the World Cup is around the corner, you’ll realise you still don’t have a core. It will never work and that is what happened in the last two World Cups,” he added.
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Rohit’s captaincy can’t be judged by single ICC event: Gambhir
The celebrated cricketer turned expert pointed out that defining Rohit Sharma’s captaincy with just one World Cup wouldn’t be a fair deal.
“Promoting Hardik as vice-captain is not a bad idea but we will have to wait and watch once Rohit Sharma comes back into the T20 side whether Hardik will still captain or not because judging Rohit Sharma by just one ICC tournament is not the right parameter. KL Rahul might find it difficult to get into the XI,” Gambhir said.
Notably, the senior players have not been named in the T20I squad that will square off against Sri Lanka in the upcoming three-match series. While it has been learnt that Rohit Sharma needs a little extra time to nurse his thumb injury, the absence of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul hasn’t been clarified by the cricket board.
The BCCI has transferred the leadership onus to Hardik Pandya’s shoulders in Rohit’s absence with Suryakumar Yadav as his deputy for the tour.
The three-match T20I series between India and Sri Lanka starts on January 3. The 20-over series will be followed by as many matches ODI series.
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