Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif came down hard on India’s experimentation with their squad post the 2021 T20 World Cup and said that despite playing 56-57 players in the whole year, they failed to win a single event.
Indian team under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid have done well in limited overs series, especially T20Is. They started the Asia Cup 2022 on a good note, defeating Pakistan and Hong Kong, but failed to qualify for the final, after two losses in the Super 4s stage.
However, their focus is on the T20 World Cup 2022 which will be played in Australia from October 16 onwards and the Men in Blue have already departed for the event to begin preparations. India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 23 in MCG.
After the dismal 2021 T20 World Cup where India was knocked out in the league stage itself, the side made a host of changes throughout the year, especially in their bowling attack, that provided the selectors with a large pool of players at their disposal when the squad announcement was made last month.
Talking about the same on a TV show, Rashid Latif said that despite playing so many players, India didn’t win a single event.
When the anchor talked about whether Deepak Hooda should have been given more chances, Latif said: “They keep their main players everywhere and they keep changing their players frequently. 56-57 players khila diye unhone poore saal me, event koi bhi nahi bada jeeta. Ye ek issue hai. Australia and England plan a lot better. Then comes Pakistan.”
Since winning the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013, India has reached the knock-out stages of 8 ICC tournaments – including three finals – but failed to lift the title.
(Hindustan Times inputs)
