Former India opener Gautam Gambhir was seen hinting at his expectation from the pair of Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid. He stated that he is looking forward to the end of India’s ICC title drought. He commented this after the Indian players got eliminated from the semi-final match of the ongoing T20 World Cup. This happened after New Zealand went ahead after winning the match over Afghanistan.
Well, the upcoming match with Namibia which is scheduled on Monday will be the last for Virat Kohli playing as the T20I captain. Also, this will be Ravi Shastri’s last match as the head coach. Rahul Dravid will be replacing Shastri as the new head coach for the team and Rohit Sharma might as well take the place of Virat Kohli. Gautam Gambhir opened up that India needs to make progress in the shortest format. He stated “I hope Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid take Indian cricket forward in this format and win an ICC tournament very soon, following the template of England,”
Gautam Gambhir spoke to Star Sports. Before the Namibia match, India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun stated about the “undue” toss advantage which teams have gained in the World Cup. This was especially in Dubai, as the conditions make chasing an easier task than setting a total. As per the reports, the matches in Dubai have been won by the chasing side. This has taken advantage of bowling-friendly conditions early on and then scored runs under the effect of dew. Bharat Arun added, “I’m not trying to give any excuses but the trend this World Cup has been the team that wins the toss has a big advantage, especially when you’re playing in the Dubai Stadium.”
“So the wicket kind of eases out when you come out to bowl the second time. But no excuses, we should have batted better, and also the first match [against Pakistan], we had a chance to defend our total but we looked a little below par. “…I think the toss plays a very very vital role, which I think shouldn’t – the toss shouldn’t be of any consequence.
But here, the toss gives a very undue advantage and there’s a huge change between batting in the first innings and batting in the second innings. That shouldn’t be the case in a very short format like this,” he further stated. Well, India will be hosting New Zealand which is scheduled to happen from November 17. It is for their first T20 series which will be happening just after the World Cup. The 3-match T20I series is set to happen which is followed by a 2-Test series that fans have been eagerly looking forward to.
