Team India have enjoyed the reputation of being one of the most formidable units in cricket, but despite all the success the Men In Blue have often failed to cross the line in multi-team ICC tournaments. The last time India won a major ICC tournament was back in 2013 under MS Dhoni’s leadership, and fans have been longing to see the boys climb the podium again.
The team did come close on numerous times, with the most recent being in the World Test Championship final earlier this year, where they lost against Australia. However, India will hope to end the drought at the ICC World Cup, which will be held in the country on October-November this year.
While the squad for the same is yet to be announced, former India bowler and current BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar indicated it will be more or less the same which will travel to Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup 2023.
A total of 18 players, which includes Sanju Samson as back-upwill fly to the island nation for the continental event, which starts from August 30. While the squad has depth both in bowling and batting, one area which may hurt the side is the lack of batting all-rounders.
The team do have Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel, who perfectly fit for the role, but it is highly unlikely that all three will be accommodated together in the playing XI. This is where a batting all-rounder comes handy, an area which helped India’s case exceedingly in the 2011 World Cup. Then India had the services of Suresh Raina, and Yuvraj Singh, leaving then skipper Dhoni with lots of options.
Not just that but Yuvraj had emerged as the most impactful player from the Indian camp then and was also named the Player of the Tournament. The southpaw accumulated 362 runs in nine matches at a staggering average of 90.50. With the ball he accounted for 15 wickets, which also featured a five-wicket haul.
When pointed the same to Rohit during the press conference earlier on Monday, the Indian skipper admitted the fact but was quick to add that an all-rounder cannot be created overnight. And right before moving away from the subject, Rohit also joked about him and Kohli rolling their arms in the showpiece event, leaving the floor in splits.
“That was the team of 2011, they had individuals who could bowl, who could bat. In our case we have to make use the ones who are currently with us. And the ones who are best, who have been performing we give chance to them. We cannot overnight create someone who can bowl in the team, it is not like that. All these guys are batters, they’ve scored runs and that is why they are part of the team. But hopefully Sharma and Kohli can roll some arm over in the World Cup,” the Indian skipper said.
Agarkar, who was seated beside the captain, played along with the joke and said “yeah we’ve convinced them.”
