IND vs WI: “Defeat West Indies 2-0” it would mean nothing, Gavaskar’s explosive remarks: India’s habit of performing poorly in the marquee ICC events, especially in the knockout games, hasn’t gone down well. The buzz around the ICC World Test Championship 2023 (WTC) Final loss against Australia is still making headlines even 4 days after the conclusion of the test.
Team India under the leadership of Rohit Sharma suffered a 209-run loss against Australia at the Oval in London which left many Indian fans and experts fuming, one of which was, legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar, who launched a scathing attack on the Indian side ahead of their new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
Notably, team India is set to visit West Indies in the coming month for the two-match test series, which will also mark the start of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle 2023-25. The two tests against WI will be held in Dominica and Trinidad respectively.
Gavaskar said criticism will follow team India after their embarrassing performance in the WTC 2023 Final. He said even they faced the heat when they performed poorly, back in the day.
“I have been in the teams where we have been knocked out at 42 and we had been miserable in the change rooms. We were also criticised heavily. So, I think you cannot say that the current lot is not beyond criticism,” said Sunil Gavaskar.
He mentioned the Indian management must analyse and try to decipher what went wrong for the team in the five days of play owing to which they suffered the defeat in yet another ICC final.
“They have to be very analytical about what happened, how they get out, why didn’t they bowl well, why didn’t they catch, was the selection of the Playing XI was the right thing, so all these factors have to come in,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gavaskar didn’t mince his words and launched a scathing attack on the Indian side which is known to have an upper hand over their opponents in the bilateral fixtures.
He added that defeating West Indies in the upcoming series 2-0 won’t do any good to the team if they consistently lose matches in the crucial games against world-class teams.
“You cannot brush this under the carpet like ‘yeah we have got two matches against West Indies’. West Indies are not the best team in the world. You just go and hammer them 2-0, 3-0, whatever the matches are. This doesn’t mean anything because when you come across and if you go to the finals and if you are playing Australia again, making the same mistakes, then how would you win the trophy?” he added.
The India tour of West Indies (IND vs WI) is set to begin on July 12 with the two-match test series. The two sides will then proceed to the three-match ODI series and a five-game T20I series to conclude the month-long tour in West Indies and the USA. The final two games of the five-match T20I series will be held in Florida.
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For more details head to BCCI’s official website.