Not winning an ICC trophy for more than a decade is an “added baggage” and Rohit Sharma’s team will have to deal with that, feels Sandeep Patil. The explosive batsman of the 1980s was a cornerstone of India’s maiden World Cup triumph in 1983.
Patil was in Kolkata as a mentor of the Shrachi Rarh Tigers team, which is gearing up for the upcoming Bengal Pro League. They are confident of a successful season. This is a Shrachi Sports venture, encouraged by the company’s managing director Rahul Todi.
Far afield in New York, India will take on Ireland in their T20 World Cup opener on Wednesday. Rohit & Co start as firm favourites. But overall, in the context of the tournament, they are under pressure to lift the trophy.
“Definitely, the Indian players will have this added burden, an added baggage I would say. Whichever tournament they play, the pressure will always be there on them,” Patil said, speaking to RevSportz.
The 67-year-old, who served as India’s head coach and then as the chairman of selectors, asked the fans to put things in perspective.
“See, India are going there as one of the title contenders. They are one of the top teams in the world. Yes, we haven’t won an ICC tournament for a long time now, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t playing good cricket. We have been reaching finals and semi-finals. Why only talk about the Indian team. We should also look at other teams, who are good but haven’t reached the finals or semi-finals,” Patil observed.
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“I’m not taking the side of the Indian team. But winning a World Cup is not easy. It took years for us to win another World Cup after 1983. I’m just hoping that Rohit’s team does it,” he added.
But do India have the team to win the T20 World Cup? “All selectors, when they pick a team, their aim is always that the team will win. Ajit Agarkar and his colleagues, when they picked the team for the T20 World Cup, must have taken inputs from Rohit and Rahul Dravid. I’m a little sad for Ravichandran Ashwin though. He is the world’s best off-spinner. You can also talk about Rinku Singh and Shreyas Iyer. But then, you can only accommodate 15 players in a squad,” said Patil.
Have the selectors missed a trick by not bringing in younger faces at the expense of the old guards? For example, England and Australia have dropped Joe Root and Steve Smith in the shortest format. But despite the setback of the 2022 T20 World Cup, India decided to keep regeneration at arm’s length.
Patil chose to remain non-committal on this. “Every selection committee has its own thought process. It’s not right for me to comment. My only wish is that India play well and win the tournament.”
Patil urged the team to adopt a fearless approach, something they displayed in the 50-over World Cup last year. “They were brilliant at the World Cup. They were aggressive and played fearless cricket. The final was just one bad game.”
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