Former Indian opener and a member of the 2011 World Cup winning squad, Gautam Gambhir feels that the MSK Prasad led selection committee might have missed out on a trick and bringing some new faces for the 2019 World Cup which would have taken the opposition by surprise. Team India squad for the 2019 World Cup was announced yesterday.
While 11-12 names were the ones which were expected, there were a few names which were omitted from the squad quite surprisingly. Players like Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu failed to find a spot despite scoring runs whenever they have got the opportunities. Ambati Rayudu had done a good job for India whenever he was asked to bat at No 4. So the exclusion comes as a surprise.
Despite his comments, Gautam Gambhir feels that if the current selectors believe that the selected team can bring home the world cup, we should back and support them to come out triumphantly. Gambhir is of the opinion that everything is about belief. He further added that a player who might not have played single Test can succeed at the highest level if he has the belief and the confidence to succeed in future.
“I don’t know. It is ultimately about MSK because it is not about people who have experience. It is about what you think is right and that doesn’t come with experience, it comes with belief. If your belief is strong enough, it doesn’t matter if you have played 100 Test matches or you haven’t played a single Test. It is your belief and confidence that matters more than anything else.
Gambhir further opined that it is only on the selectors, captains and the team management to decide whether the Indian team picked players who could do a bit of both. However, Gambhir added that whatever may be the team combination, the bottom line is that all of us want the Indian team to play well and try and bring the Cup back home.
“Whether they have picked bits and pieces players — that is what the selectors, the captain and the team management need to decide.
“Ultimately we want the Indian team to do well and try and win the World Cup. If they think this is the best 15 that can achieve that, we have to support them. I love thinking out-of-the-box and that is what I always did,” he said.
When asked whether Rishabh Pant could have been picked ahead of Dinesh Karthik, Gambhir said that he was not only sad with the omission of Rishabh Pant but he also felt bad for Ambati Rayudu. Gambhir stated that Pant at least have age on his side but with Rayudu it was his last chance to be part of a World Cup squad.
“Why speak about only one player? There is Ambati Rayudu who missed out as well. He is averaging 48 in ODIs, why focus only on Pant? I feel it is far more disheartening for someone like Rayudu because Pant has age on his side.
“Rayudu doesn’t have age on his side and we should be talking about Rayudu because Pant is at least playing one format of the game,” he added.
Meanwhile, Gautam Gambhir also feels that the Indian bowling attack is lot better than the one they had back in 2011. The man behind the victory in the 200 World Cup final feels that the Hardik Pandya might be the X factor of the tournament.