(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] In a scathing critique of India’s performance in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 final against Australia at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, Gautam Gambhir expressed disappointment with the team’s defensive approach, particularly in the middle overs. The Australian team, led by Pat Cummins, clinched their sixth ODI World Cup trophy by defeating the Rohit Sharma-led India by six wickets.
Australia won the toss and invited India to bat first. The Indian innings witnessed a notable disparity between the first ten overs and the subsequent phase. During the initial powerplay, India posted a score of 80 runs with the loss of three wickets. However, as the second powerplay commenced, the Indian batters adopted a defensive strategy, resulting in a scarcity of boundaries between overs 11 and 50. Ultimately, India could only manage to reach a below-par total of 240 runs.
While openers Rohit Sharma (47 off 31) and Virat Kohli (54 off 63) made noteworthy contributions, the middle-order batters, including Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Suryakumar Yadav, struggled to leave a significant impact on the grand stage.
Former India cricketer Gambhir highlighted the deficiency in runs from the middle-order, attributing it to the defensive mindset of the Indian batters.
“It’s a double-edged sword. But I have always said this, the most courageous team will go on to win the World Cup. I can understand that you need time to build a partnership but 11 to 40 overs is a very, very long time. Someone should have taken that risk,” Gambhir said as quoted to Sportskeeda.
In particular, Gambhir emphasized Rahul’s defensive innings, scoring 66 runs off 107 balls, without attempting aggressive shots while batting alongside Kohli. While acknowledging Kohli’s anchor role, Gambhir lamented the lack of aggression from the rest of the line-up.
“Kohli has played a role of anchoring the innings, but the rest all should have been aggressive. KL should have gone. What harm would it have caused? We would have been 150 all out. But had we been brave, we could scored 310 and India would have been world champions. This is not the 1990s. 240 is not a good score at all. You need 300-plus totals. India were not brave enough,” he added.