Dust is yet to settle as team India bow out of the T20 World Cup. The team led by Virat Kohli had a torrid time in UAE as they were knocked out of the tournament in Super 12 stage. Former India opener and World Cup-winner Gautam Gambhir has raised question marks on the teams credentials and has blamed lack of preparation as the main cause of India’s dismal show in the tournament.
Gambhir who was the architect of India’s win in 2007 T20 World Cup was critical of India’s performance. India who take on Namibia in their final match of the tournament on November 8, are expected to be the favorites to win the dead rubber. Things would have been different if Afghanistan had beaten New Zealand on Sunday afternoon, as India would need a win to qualify for the semis with a win over Gerhard Erasmus-led Namibia.
“There is no place for ifs and buts in sport, but things could have been different if India had planned better for Shaheen Shah Afridi, or assessed the pitch better when they took on New Zealand in the second game,” Gambhir wrote in his column for Times on India.
The two-time World Cup-winner also criticised the team’s mentality as majority of the players were playing in the same environment for the past couple of months. The players failed to bring their IPL experience and looked like a pale shadow of themselves. Pakistan were a tough nut to crack, New Zealand were a bad day at the office, said Virat Kohli after the humiliating losses. However, Gambhir saw the other side of the coin and emphasised on the point that the team should have been ready for the challenges.
“As a sportsperson you’d want to be master of your destiny rather than wait for a few permutations to go right to know how far you are progressing in a competition. Indian team would tell you what I mean. Champions train to win, they work hard to score that one run more than the opposition and not wait for the result of New Zealand vs Afghanistan match to know their fate,” Gambhir added.
India have made some sort of damage limitation by winning their subsequent matches against Afghanistan and Scotland, but these wins have come too little, too late. The 40-year-old also emphasised the team needs to look into the future and work on the mistakes to avoid further embarrassments.
