Rohit Sharma's brigade might have missed their shot on the T20 World Cup last year, but they are certainly setting up things for the Men's ODI World Cup which will be held in India later this year. It has been more than nine years since India won their last ICC trophy which came under MS Dhoni's regime. India's performance has been significantly good all these years but someway or the other they couldn't find the missing part of the puzzle which kept them devoid of an ICC trophy as they kept on repeating the same old story of crashing at the bigger stage.
However, this time around it seems that Indian team management is more prepared than ever as they have already shortlisted 20 players, in the review meeting convened by BCCI couple of days back, who will be groomed for the marquee event. The names, though, haven't been revealed yet but the template on which the team will be finalised is being discussed.
Meanwhile, 2011 World Cup final's match-winner and former India skipper Gautam Gambhir also gave his two cent on the template debate. He drew everyone's attention towards the importance of players' selection which will play a significantly instrumental role going forward into the mega tournament.
"First, you need to identify the players who got that fearless approach and probably in a format like 50 overs you need to have a mixture of every kind of player. There are players who can anchor their innings. Change in the role has also made a huge difference. During that time we had only one new ball, now we've got two new balls with five fielders inside. So, the role of a part-timer has gone out of the window. The reverse swings, you don't see enough reverse swings anymore, you don't see enough of chase for the finger spinners as well. But, I always feel that when we talk about this new approach, which India always talks about, the template and stuff, you've got to identify players who can adapt those roles or that template very easily," Gambhir said on Star Sports show 'Road to World Cup Glory'.
In a discussion on the same, former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir highlighted how one player can't be asked to play like the other.
Former star India batter also cited an example of Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli, who have contrasting styles of playing the game.
"I can't play like Yousuf (Pathan), he can't play like me. If someone asks me to follow Yousuf's template, I won't be able to do that. Similarly, if someone asks Yousuf to follow my template, he won't be able to do that. That is why the identification of players is very important.
"If you tell Virat Kohli today to bat like Suryakumar Yadav, he can't. If you ask Surya to play like Virat, he won't be able to do that," Gambhir added.