Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar today lavishly applauded on ‘Men In Blue’ for defeating South Africa team in the ICC World Cup, and said he never believed in his desolate dream that Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s squad would defeat the South African by such a big margin. Defending champions India demolished Proteas by 130 runs to notch up their 1st victory against the Proteas in World Cup history.
The Little Master said that he never thought it will be such a big triumph. He was always confident of Team India’s skill. He kept saying that Indian openers must not hasten things, sadly Rohit got run out. After that Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli played themselves in and it was only later after 24 overs they started getting momentum.
He further added that once they did that he was confident that India will be capable to get victory by may be 30 runs to 40 runs. They will be capable to limit them by 270 runs-280 runs. But 160, it was beyond his wildest dreams.
Gavaskar said that Shikhar and Virat created the base and then Ajinkya Rahane came and played a glorious innings. So everyone donated but one cannot forget the man who gets the ton because he is the one who not only made the base but also instigated the onslaught and took the team to 300 runs.
Shikhar Dhawan’s bad performance was the biggest tension for India going into the ICC World Cup as he had not succeeded during the Australia tour, both in Tests and One Day International tri-series. However, the Indian opener rebounded severe censure and silenced all critics by getting a 73 run against Pakistan in their 1st ICC World Cup match.
Sunill Gavaskar was quoted saying: “Talks were outside, in the team there was no question in the mind of Dhoni or selection committee that Dhawan should be left out. These are loose talks which happens when someone doesn’t do well. To think like that about Dhawan in ODI cricket is silly.
Like we have seen in Suresh Raina, ODIs and Tests are different animals. While Dhawan has a long way to go in Tests, but in one-day cricket, I don’t think there is any issue whatsoever.”.