It was in 2013 when the Indian cricket team last won the ICC title as they bagged the Champions Trophy. Ever since then, the Indian side has played in the 2015 and 2019 editions of the ODI World Cup, 2014, 2016, 2021, and 2022 editions of the T20 World Cup, the 2017 Champions Trophy, and the 2021 World Test Championship final, however, they have failed to get their hands on the prestigious ICC trophy.
While India crashed out of the semifinals on four out of the total eight, whereas they failed to fire on three occasions. In the majority of the ICC events, while the Indian side started as favorites, and during the tournament as well, however, when it was supposed to matter the most, they failed. Several experts and cricketers have come up with their opinion on India’s barren run. The latest one to talk about the same is former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir.
Gautam Gambhir, who was the star of India’s two World Cup wins in 2007 and 2011, explained one big reason for the ICC title drought and that is the workload management of senior players. The former cricketer feels that the frequent breaks taken or given to senior players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, and Ravindra Jadeja, have hurt the team.
As per him, team India has failed to build a core because of the frequent unavailability of these players and that has impacted the chances of team India. He further stated that if India wants to win the ODI World Cup 2023, then team India needs to build a core and make sure they play every game before the marquee event. He pointed out workload management as the biggest mistake in Indian cricket. He said:
“They got to play together. I think the biggest mistake that Indian cricket has made in the last two World Cups has been that these guys have not played enough cricket together. Tell me, how many times have we got the best playing 11 on the park? We haven’t; only during the World Cup we decided to have the best playing 11, but unfortunately, that was never the best playing 11. So, these guys have to play enough of white ball cricket, especially for the 50 overs World Cup together irrespective of whether they want to take a break from the T20 or from the IPL,“
He added: “If they want to take a break, people who play more than three formats, they can definitely take a break from T20 cricket, but surely not from the ODI format. If the franchisee has to suffer, they have to suffer. Indian cricket is the main stakeholder, not the IPL. IPL is just a by-product. So, if India goes out and wins the World Cup, that is the bigger ovation, that is the bigger ring. For example, if an important player does miss the IPL games so be it, because IPL happens every year and the World Cup happens only once in four years. So, for me I think winning the World Cup is far more important than winning the IPL”
