Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly feels the team needs to get back to winning ways before the all-important World Cup. Ganguly admitted that India has lost in big match situations, which has led to their downfall in the major ICC events.
India has been consistently qualifying for the knockout stages of the big events but they have failed to cross the last hurdle on numerous occasions.
Since winning the Champions Trophy in 2013, India has suffered losses in the 2014 T20 World Cup final against Sri Lanka, 2015 ODI World Cup semifinals against Australia, 2016 T20 World Cup semifinals against West Indies, 2017 Champions Trophy final against Pakistan, 2019 ODI World Cup semifinals against New Zealand, Test Championship finals of 2021 and 2023 against New Zealand and Australia respectivel.
“Is #TeamIndia favourite because the World Cup is held in India or because we’re playing with strength and confidence @virendersehwag? Yes, we won against Aus in Aus, drew series against England but then we lost to them both in big match situations. I think we have a solid team and a big chance, but we do need to get back to our winning ways before the #ICCworldCup23,” tweeted Ganguly.
There is no doubt that India hasn’t been able to clinch the big match situations as they haven’t been able to keep their calm. Team India has failed to come up with a collective effort and they will need to turn the tables in the major events to end their title drought.
Meanwhile, India has the players who can take them to glory and they also have the experience under their belt.
India will begin their World Cup campaign against Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on October 8.
India’s Squad for ODI World Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah
