I Hope Rohit Sharma And Rahul Dravid Win An ICC Tournament Very Soon - Gautam Gambhir

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir is hoping for the pair of Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid to soon end India’s ICC title drought. He commented this after the Men In Blue have been eliminated from the semi-final race of the ongoing T20 World Cup after New Zealand progressed with a victory over Afghanistan.

This also means that the encounter with Namibia on Monday will be the last of Virat Kohli as the T20I captain and Ravi Shastri as the head coach. Rahul Dravid has been announced as the new head coach for the team and Rohit Sharma is likely to take over from Kohli.

Gautam Gambhir feels that India need to make progress in the shortest format, and the team with his immense talent pool will be served well if they adopt to England’s template in white-ball cricket.

“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 told Star Sports.

The team that wins the toss has a big advantage: Bharat Arun

Ahead of the Namibia match, India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun talked about the “undue” toss advantage which teams have gained in the World Cup, especially in Dubai, as the conditions make chasing an easier task than setting a total.

Most of the matches in Dubai have been won by the chasing side, who have taken advantage of bowling-friendly conditions early on and then scored runs under the effect of dew.

“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,” Bharat Arun said.

“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 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 added.

India will host New Zealand from November 17 for their first T20 series after the World Cup. The 3-match T20I series will be followed by a 2-Test series.

Also Read: T20 World Cup 2021: Twitter Reacts As India Is Officially Knocked Out Of T20 World Cup After New Zealand Defeats Afghanistan