Team India is one of the strongest contenders in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023 at home. The Indian team also started the campaign with a brilliant win over five-time champion Australia in their opening encounter.
They won the first game in Chennai by six wickets, and the victory was led by Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. The Indian team has not gotten their hands on the ICC trophy in the last decade. They won the last ICC tournament when MS Dhoni led the team to win the Champions Trophy in England.
Since then, India has qualified for a number of knockout stages in the big tournament but hasn’t won it once. India lost the finals of the WTC in 2021 and 2023, as well as the 2017 Champions Trophy. Then India lost in the semi-finals of the 2022 T20 World Cup and the 2019 World Cup.
Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir feels that India is too obsessed with stats and achievements, which is why they aren’t able to win an ICC title. This statement came after India’s win over Australia in Chennai. Rahul hit the six to finish the chase, but looked unhappy after the ball cleared the boundary line.
It was because he tried to hit the ball for a boundary to give himself a chance to go for a hundred. But he remained unbeaten at 97. Speaking about personal milestones and achievements and the hype surrounding them, Gambhir made this statement in an interview with Sportskeeda.
He said, “If you score 30, 40, or even 140, what matters in the end is whether the team won or not. I think our obsession with stats is one of the biggest reasons why we have not won an ICC tournament in so many years.
Gambhir further added that it is really not about scoring a hundred if the team is not winning. If the player remains unbeaten and scores hundred and the team doesn’t win the game, then there is no use of that knock.
Virat also missed his hundred and got out after scoring 85 runs. Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Shreyas Iyer got out for a duck each. Team India will now face Afghanistan in their second game of the tournament on Wednesday. That match will take place at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
