'ICC Ranking Doesn't Matter'- Gautam Gambhir Explains One Condition Team India Need To Satisfy To Win The World Cup

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has explained what Team India need to do to win the forthcoming ICC World Cup 2023. High-flying Team India will be desperate to go all the way in the tournament after their failures to win big competitions in recent years.

India have not won the World Cup in any format since 2011 while they last won an ICC trophy in 2013. The Men in Blue are one of the favorites for the upcoming ODI World Cup and are likely to enter the competition as the number-one ODI side in the world. India are also high on confidence after their impressive triumph in Asia Cup 2023 where they inflicted heavy defeats on the likes of Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

And ahead of the competition, Gautam Gambhir has said that India need to beat Australia if they are eyeing the World Cup title. The former cricketer highlighted that India had defeated Australia in the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup before winning both competitions. Incidentally, India will open their World Cup campaign against Australia on October 8 in Chennai.

“Look, I have always said this, and there is no doubt in this, that if you want to win the World Cup, then you have to beat Australia. In 2007, when we won the World Cup, we defeated Australia in the semifinal. In 2011, when we won the World Cup, we beat Australia in the quarterfinal,” Gautam Gambhir told Star Sports.

“Australia is the strongest team in any ICC tournament. Remove the ranking, ranking does not matter. You can be in any position in the rankings, but Australia, when it comes to those big tournaments, the World Cups, I think Australia has got the players, they have got the self-belief, Australia has the ability to play those big moments really well,” he added.

Gautam Gambhir on beating Australia:

Speaking further, Gautam Gambhir stated the importance of beating Australia in the World Cup. The World Cup winner said: “I believe that if we have to win the World Cup this year, Australia is going to be the most important game, and we start against Australia, so there is nothing better than that. So beating Australia is very, very important.”

India and Australia are currently involved in a three-match ODI series. On Friday (September 22), the Men in Blue thrashed the visitors by five wickets in the first ODI to take the lead in the series.