Former India opener Gautam Gambhir said he has high expectations from Team India’s new head coach Rahul Dravid and hopes the Men in Blue could soon end the drought of tasting success at an ICC tournament.
Gambhir’s comments came after Virat Kohli & Co. experienced an early exit from T20 World Cup 2021, which has extended their ICC trophy drought to 8 years. Notably, India last clinched an ICC title back in 2013 under MS Dhoni’s leadership.
After India’s chances of making it to the semi-finals ended with New Zealand’s 8-wicket win over Afghanistan, Gambhir said the right man to replace Kohli as captain in the shortest format is Rohit Sharma.
Gambhir hoped that the combination of Rohit and Dravid could help Team India in winning an ICC tournament.
“Looking forward to it (Dravid’s tenure as coach). India will have a new captain as well, and I hope Rohit Sharma gets it because of 5 IPL titles, what more do you want from someone? “ said Gambhir.
“The most successful captain in the history of the IPL, and hopefully, he and Rahul Dravid can take Indian cricket forward. Probably can win an ICC tournament as well. It’s been a long time now, it’s been 14-15 years we haven’t won a T20 tournament,” he added.
The cricketer-turned-analyst mentioned that Dravid and Rohit should create a template that empowers them to play like England. Gambhir said with the likes of Rohit, Kohli, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya, India have all the potential to become fearless in international cricket.
“Hopefully, Rohit and Rahul can take Indian cricket forward and probably can create a template, the way they want to go about in the T20 format. I hope they go about it same England goes because you have got the ability to do it,” urged the 40-year-old.
“Sometimes, if you ask a team like New Zealand to do it, they might not be able to do it because they have not got enough firepower, but with people like Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya, they have the ability to be fearless,” Gambhir added further.
