Legendary cricketer and former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar believes that selectors need to make tough decisions in the coming days if they want Team India to win the 2024 T20 World Cup title. The batting great also highlighted that India's failure to win the T20 World Cup since 2007 is a major disappointment.
The ICC T20 World Cup 2024 is the next major global event, and it will be jointly hosted by West Indies and the USA in June next year.
However, it's still not clear whether who will lead India's pack in T20Is after the ODI World Cup 2023.
Notably, Rohit Sharma is the current skipper of India across all formats, but he did not play a single T20I match in 2023. Hardik Pandya led the team in his absence, but he is now injured and out of action.
Gavaskar, in his column for Mid-Day, stated that selectors need to come out with bold decisions ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024 if they want India to clinch the title. He also added that the team needs to learn from its mistakes, otherwise, its progress will be affected.
“India will have to accept some of the errors they made in the final if they want to go on and win a trophy. Trying to show solidarity is one thing, but if mistakes are not accepted, then the progress will be slower”.
“Over the next few weeks, big decisions will have to be made by individuals and the selection committee. India not winning the T20 World Cup after 2007 is a huge disappointment considering the exposure its players and youngsters get playing in the IPL,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
The 74-year-old acknowledged that the disappointment of losing the World Cup 2023 final is now in the past and the team must focus on future endeavors. He emphasised India's commendable performance in recent World Cups, demonstrating their resilience and potential.
“India not winning the World Cup was disappointing, no doubt, but that is over now, and the game will move on. Over the last four World Cups, the Indian team entered the final twice with one win and got into the semi-finals on the other two occasions. That is a terrific performance when you compare it with the other teams, and only Australia has been better with two trophy wins,” Gavaskar's piece further read.
Rohit's stance on the T20I captaincy remains unclear, and selectors are eagerly anticipating his response before making a final decision.
India's next cricket assignment is a multi-format tour of South Africa next month. Meanwhile, in the ongoing T20I series against Australia Suryakumar Yadav is leading team India's pack.
With regular T20I skipper Hardik Pandya sidelined for another month due to an ankle ligament tear sustained during the recently concluded ODI World Cup, the BCCI faces a decision between entrusting the captaincy to Suryakumar or reposing faith in Rohit's leadership skills, which have earned widespread praise over the past seven weeks.
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