I hope Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid win India an ICC tournament very soon: Gautam Gambhir
Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir sounded hopeful that Team India can turn their fortunes around in ICC tournaments under the leadership of Rohit Sharma and tutelage of Rahul Dravid. The Men in Blue won three ICC trophies – 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 50-over World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy – under MS Dhoni’s captaincy, but have faltered since then.
They lost in the final of the 2014 World T20 and the 2017 Champions Trophy. India also made semi-final exits in the 2016 World T20 and the 2019 50-over World Cup. Current skipper Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri have come under a lot of fire for not being able to take India home.
However, the Delhi-born Gambhir said that the Rohit-Dravid duo can follow England’s roadmap in order to help India get back to winning ways in ICC mega events.
Gautam Gambhir opines
“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,” Gambhir was quoted as saying on Star Sports.
Earlier this month, Dravid was appointed as India’s coach and his job is set to start from the home series against New Zealand. Shastri, who’s been at the helm since 2017, is set to end his tenure after the ongoing T20 World Cup in Oman and UAE.
The Men in Blue have already been knocked out of the tournament after they started their campaign with defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand. Their last and final Super 12 game against Namibia on Monday, November 8 is a mere dead rubber.
India did manage to beat Afghanistan and Scotland in a pretty comprehensive manner, but their chances ended after New Zealand defeated the Afghans by eight wickets on Sunday. The tournament is also Virat Kohli’s last as the skipper of Team India’s T20I skipper.
Earlier, he also relinquished Royal Challengers Bangalore’s captaincy in the Indian Premier League. Kohli took over as India’s full-time limited-overs skipper back in 2017. The 33-year-old has also been leading India in Test cricket since December 2014 after Dhoni retired.
In the meantime, reports of Rohit becoming India’s captain have been doing the round, although there’s no official announcement of the same.
