Former England captain Nasser Hussain admitted that Team India has a great pool of talented players, but stressed the fact that they must change their "timid approach," as he was discussing the Men in Blue’s disappointing exit from the recently-concluded ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
India suffered a 10-wicket defeat against eventual title winners England in the semi-final and yet again crashed out of the World Cup after reaching the knockout stage.
Following the T20 World Cup 2022 exit, there have been calls for change in the leadership, and Hussain also admitted that the Indian team needs a captain like Eoin Morgan to allow players to play freely, as demanded in T20I cricket.
The former England captain mentioned that there is nothing wrong with the Indian team; they just need to change their approach and way of playing cautiously in the power play to win ICC events.
Speaking with Michael Atherton on Sky Sports Cricket, Nasser Hussain said: “India still a massive force. You look at their team on paper. You look at the players they could've picked. There were a couple of blows like most sides had, like Jasprit Bumrah and Jadeja being injured. But, when it comes to knockout games, the approach needs to change.”
He continued, “I had even asked Ravi Shastri, he said ‘we played pretty timid cricket' with the bat and that's got to change. Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid came to change that, and they did it in bilaterals, they did it against England. Suryakumar smashed it around Trent Bridge, got a brilliant 115 off 55. But then, you've got to take it into a game, where you know that you know that if you lose, the sort of criticism you are going to get.”
Hussain feels India needs someone like Morgan, who would inspire them to just go out and enjoy 20 overs on the field.
Hussain said, “The first time that got that into a knockout game, they slipped back into their old way of being 66 for 2 after 10. There's talk about younger guns coming through but it's not the players, but the mindset.”
He concluded, “They need an Eoin Morgan-type character to go in there and say play carefree cricket. 20 overs, go and smash it as much as you can for 20 overs. Play like you play in the IPL and smash it. Do it for India and don't worry about the noise. Shut out the noise and we'll back if you are bowled out for 120.”
With the next T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in 2024, a lot of changes are expected to take place in the Indian team.
