- Saturday, July 27, 2024
India have not won a single ICC trophy since winning the Champions Trophy under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy in 2013.
By: Shubham Ghosh
FORMER cricketers Nasser Hussain and Simon Doull have reportedly found the reason for India not doing well in International Cricket Council (ICC) events for a long time now and it is about not being fearless enough on the field.
India have returned empty-handed from several ICC events, be it in white or red ball, since winning the Champions Trophy in England in 2013 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni and thrashing opponents in numerous bilateral series and clinching the top rank across formats of international cricket. They have made the knockouts in almost every ICC tournament all these years but fell at the obstacles there, notably in the semi-finals.
According to Doull, a former New Zealand pacer, India’s problem has been a lack of fearlessness in their approach. Speaking to Sky Sports during a talk that also saw the presence of Hussain, a former England captain, and Eoin Morgan, who led England to their maiden 50-over world cup win in 2019, Doull said Indian cricketers are more worried about statistics than the outcome of games.
“They play statistics-driven cricket and they are too worried about their stats too often. And to me that is the one area I am concerned about their batting side,” the 54-year-old said.
“They have got all the talent and some of the best players if not the best players in the world. But it is about playing the fearless cricket at the right time of the tournament and I think that is what had really let them down in the last few World Cups,” he added.
Doull also said that the fear of being criticised can be one of the reasons why the big names of Indian cricket fail to shine in the ICC events. He said Indian players do not take risks thinking what might be said or written against them or whether their place in the side would come under the scanner.
Hussain, 55, seconded Doull saying the Asian powerhouse needed to be above par in knockout clashes and not settle for mediocre scores like they did earlier.
“They got to go above par they have got to play a bit of fearless cricket, When you get to the knockouts stage. I think they are in the knockout stage, when they got to a semifinal and the pressure is on that’s when they still need to play fearless cricket,” the Indian-born said.
India were without a loss in the league stage in the 2019 world cup but fell apart against New Zealand in the semi-final with some of their top names such as Virat Kohli, the then captain; Rohit Sharma and KL Raul getting dismissed cheaply.
Hussain still believed however that India have one of the strongest squads going into the 50-over world cup starting on their home turf next month.
India will take on Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup in Colombo on Sunday (17).
