On Friday, legendary Indian cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar while talking about MS Dhoni’s role with Team India in the ongoing T20 World Cup, remarked that there aren’t a lot of things a mentor can do and that it’s the players that have to go out and perform the ‘actual task.’ The BCCI, alongside announcing India’s T20 WC squad, also disclosed that MS Dhoni had been appointed as the mentor. Since then, the buzz surrounding India’s campaign has only seen a sharp rise.
Addressing the hype around the presence of Dhoni during a chat on Sports Tak, Sunil Gavaskar quipped: “Mentor can’t do much. Yes, he can help you prepare in the change room as it’s a fast-paced game and if needed, help you tweak the tactic. Maybe speak to batters and bowlers during the time-out, so the move to employ Dhoni is a good one but Dhoni will be in the change room, and it’s the players who have to perform the actual task in the middle. How they handle pressure would determine what the result will be.”
Former India opener also opined that skipper Virat Kohli will feel lesser pressure now that he has decided to quit captaincy in the T20 format.
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Sunil Gavaskar said, “When you become a captain, you can’t just think about yourself, he has to speak to a batter who is going through a bad patch or discuss strategies with a bowler. Amid all this, one tends to neglect his own form.
Cricketer-turned-expert Gavaskar pointed out that India’s consistent failures in the knock-out games in global tournaments has been primarily due to faulty team selections.
Gavaskar elaborated, “India’s problem in big matches has been team combination. If they would have got the final XI selection right in knock-out games, they would have had less problems. At times, your thought process is different. In knock-outs and finals, you should bat first, put runs on the board, whatever you put, 140 maybe, the other team has to score and it’s not always easy to score at seven runs per over in international cricket.”
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He further explained, “So when we haven’t batted first, in a chase, if you lose one or two wickets, you consolidate and then catch up becomes a problem and they (Indian batters) have been found wanting.”
The Indian team will begin their campaign against Pakistan on October 24, Sunday, at the Dubai International Stadium.
