World Cup 2023 – For the past few years, the rise of social media has seen Indian cricket fans being dispersed and grouped into individual player devotees. From fans fighting over Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to now Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad, this has raised the stature of these individuals but hasn’t been a good reflection of the general fans of Indian cricket.
This has even led to the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev to hit out at the players, saying that the money has bred “ego” and “arrogance” among the players.
With the World Cup 2023 approaching and these comments from Gavaskar and Kapil Dev going viral, senior India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has urged the fans to show “positivity” regarding Team India, who Ashwin hailed as the most hard-working team in the world.
In his recent YouTube video, R Ashwin said: “All the teams come here to win the tournament. If we don’t win the World Cup, then we move on. If we win, we appreciate them. The least I am asking is, when we get into the 2023 World Cup, let us send the team will full of positivity. Winning a World Cup is not easy. All of us are hindsight kings. It’s not that easy. We have qualified for the semi-finals of almost all major events. On that day, we have not been good enough.”
With India hosting the tournament, R Ashwin, who was part of the squad that won the 2011 World Cup at home, emphasized the importance of a strong backing from the home crowd.
“What should we do to be good enough on that day? We need lots and lots of positivity. They should feel, “the public has got our back”. They should be able to execute their skill on the particular day. You can never see a hardworking team like India in the world. You should see how hard the players toil in practice sessions, gym and so on,” the 36-year-old added.
It hurts me to see some of the comments: R Ashwin on trolling of Indian team for not winning an ICC title or ODI World Cup 2023
The Indian team has not won an ICC title at the senior men’s level but have qualified for the semis and finals of most of the ICC tournaments in the past decade.
Taking a slight dig at the critics and trollers of the team and players, R Ashwin said: “It is very easy to pass comments sitting from outside. It hurts me to see some of the comments. Do you know how hard the players work? So, we can spread positivity for these hardworking cricketers. Automatically, the results will take care of itself. Even if we don’t win, let’s continue to support our team and encourage them to play better.”
“We won the World Cup in 2011, Champions Trophy in 2013, but we haven’t won an ICC trophy in 10 years. Before every tournament, people say, “India hasn’t won an ICC tournament for a long time. We won in 1983, 2007, 2011 and 2013. We should be proud of how far we have come as a cricketing nation. Let us assimilate positivity into our team. This is an earnest request,” he concluded.
India’s next major assignment is the Asia Cup, from August 30 in Sri Lanka.
