Sunil Gavaskar said that with a bit of luck India has every chance of winning! He also said that doubts about picks and omissions are demoralizing the Indian T20 World Cup team.
With the 2022 T20 World Cup just around the corner, India will be focusing on lifting the coveted trophy for the second time as after winning the inaugural edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2007 under MS Dhoni, it failed to win the top prize again.
The last T20 WC tournament held in the UAE in 2021 was a nightmare for India as the Virat Kohli-led Men in Blue exited the main tournament in the Super 12 round. With new captain Rohit Sharma at the helm, India will try to end the 15-year drought by winning the T20 World Cup this time around.
Recently, the BCCI announced the Indian team squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup to be held in Australia on October 16 and the exclusion of some players, especially veteran pacer Mohammed Shami, has caused massive outrage among fans and cricket experts.
However, amidst all the debate over the selection, former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has backed the Indian team to win the trophy if they are lucky. You can also show your support to your favorite team and place your bet on legal Cricket betting apps.
"I believe this team, with a bit of luck which every team needs, will be able to bring home the trophy," Gavaskar told The Indian Express. "If a team is selected, it is our India team and we all have to support it. We should not question the selections and omissions as it can demoralize some players," the great player added.
Gavaskar's comments come at a time when numerous former cricketers have expressed disappointment over Shami's exclusion from the squad.
"I would have picked Mohammad Shami, Umran Malik and Shubman Gill for the T20 World Cup. Would have given them a long run in T20Is because they all had a brilliant IPL season," former chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said on Tuesday.
"Surprised by the absence of Shreyas Iyer and Md. Shami from the main squad. My choice would have been Shreyas Iyer instead of Deepak Hooda and Md. Shami in place of Harshal Patel," former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin said recently.
It is worth noting that Shami has not played a single T20I after India's dreadful ICC T20 World Cup 2021 campaign in the UAE where they failed to make it even to the play-off stage.
More intriguingly, the selectors have overlooked Shami despite a memorable IPL 2022 campaign with debutants Gujarat Titans. The fast bowler finished the season with 20 wickets in 16 games at 24.40 as the Titans lifted the trophy in their inaugural season.
India's final 15-man squad for the 2022 World Cup:
Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dinesh Karthik (WK), Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh
Reserve players - Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar
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