Harbhajan Singh believes that Team India’s failure in International Cricket Council (ICC) competitions after 2013 is due to a lack of teamwork in these events.
Since 2013, the Indian team has played eight knockout matches in ICC competitions (finals and semifinals) without winning a trophy.
The Indian team most recently lost the finals of the 2023 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) against Australia at the Oval. Since the tournament’s debut in 2021, India has reached the finals twice but has yet to claim the championship.
The next major event is the 2023 One-Day International World Cup, which will be held in India.
Harbhajan on reasons behind the Men in Blues disappointment in ICC tournament
“I don’t know, it’s very difficult for me to say what we had and they don’t. I believe players who play for the country, in whichever era they might be playing, their only motive is to play well and win for the nation,”
said Harbhajan in an interaction with News24 Sports.
“We played till the semi-finals in 2015 and 2019, the ICC trophy didn’t come. Maybe the ability to punch back after absorbing the pressure has probably been seen in only one or two players. You need to play big tournaments as a team,”
he further added.
The former Indian spinner correctly identified one of the primary causes for the Men in Blue’s failure in ICC competitions, but with approaching events, particularly the ODI World Cup 2023, which will be hosted in India, team India must prepare their troops.
Jasprit Bumrah, the team’s star pacer, has not played an International match since September of last year, and his recovery from a back ailment is critical for the two-time ODI World Cup champions. Shreyas Iyer, who bats in the middle order, is similarly prone to injury and last played in March of this year.
One of the reasons the Indian team failed to reach the WTC final in 2023 was a lack of backup players to cover injured batters and bowlers.
However, with home advantage and India’s key assets returning from injury in time for the main event, the squad may as well break the curse and ultimately end the ICC trophy drought.
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