Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir has called out Mohammad Kaif’s “bizarre statements” about the “best team” not winning the World Cup 2023.
India, on a 10-match winning streak, lost the World Cup final to Australia, who ended with a 9-match winning streak. Pat Cummins‘ side sealed Australia’s 6th ODI World Cup trophy on Sunday in Ahmedabad by defeating India by 6 wickets and 7 overs to spare.
Yet, former batsman Mohammed Kaif said that India were the best team in the tournament. Gautam Gambhir has responded strongly to Kaif’s “bizarre” statement.
Accept that the best team has gone on to win the World Cup: Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir pointed out that India were the favorites heading into the final because of their 10-match winning streak. But, the former opener added, it was Australia who turned up their best game in the biggest match of the tournament, which is what makes them the best team in the competition.
“I will tell you very clearly. A lot of people might not like it. I heard some of the experts saying that the best team did not go on to win the World Cup. That’s absolutely not true. That’s one of the most bizarre statements that I have heard. It’s actually the best team that has won the World Cup. Let’s be honest. India won 10 matches, they were in very good form, that’s why there were favourites. But Australia also won 8 matches after losing the first two matches,” Gautam Gambhir told Sportskeeda.
Gambhir added that when the knockouts come, it doesn’t matter whether you finished at the top of the points table or 3rd, as Australia did, but what matters is how you perform on the days when the trophy is on the line
“The team that won the World Cup is the best team. If you are going to defend it, saying that India won 10 matches and were out because of just one bad match. Whether you finish No. 1 or No. 4, you have to play the semi-final and the final. Winning 6 league games out of 8 is easy, you have to then win 2 out of 2 in the knockouts. That’s the difficult part.
“Let’s accept that the best team has gone on to win the World Cup and India did not play well in the final. Let’s accept it. The more you keep saying it, the further you will go from reality,” he added.
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