It has been eight years since the Indian team has clinched an International Cricket Council (ICC) trophy as the search for silverware continues. The ICC recently announced plans for the new cycle where multiple events will be staged in the coming years. The next cycle will have plenty of events like the ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup and World Test Championship (WTC) slated to be staged at various periods. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly believes that India will have a great chance of winning a world championship.
“From 2022 to 2031, there will be a world championship every year and India will be a contender. I have always believed they can win. They had a semi-final loss in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. In 2021, they lost in the group stage itself [T20 World Cup]. But like any other Indian cricket fan, I believe India will win some of those tournaments. However, they can’t win everything,” the 49-year-old was quoted as speaking to News18.
“It’s very difficult to predict the future, but India is a great side. We have a very good coach [Rahul Dravid] and the team is in able hands with a new captain [Rohit Sharma] as well. So, we wish them all the best. Cricket is a team game. The players together with their captain and coach make it successful. And they have been successful in the last five years; I don’t see any reason why they can’t now. I wish them the best and hopefully, we can reach greater heights in the years to come,” the former India captain said.
The Champions Trophy in 2013 was the last major ICC event India clinched. Since then, the team reached the finals of the T20 World Cup in 2014, lost in the finals of the Champions Trophy in 2017. Men in Blue were on the wrong side of results in the 2019 ODI World Cup and WTC finals earlier this year as well. On both occasions, India were defeated by New Zealand and could have possibly become the first team to win a grand slam of ICC events.
The 2022 T20 World Cup will be India’s next assignment to lift an ICC trophy, as India will try to end their nine-year long drought. Ganguly and the board were recently in news for appointing Rohit Sharma as the captain of the ODI side.
The 2023 ODI World Cup will also be a major tournament as India will seek to win the World Cup. The upcoming cycle of ICC also sees Pakistan host the 2025 Champions Trophy and USA being a co-host for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
