Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has said that India has waited long enough for an ICC trophy and it was the Men in Blue’s time to win the upcoming 2023 World Cup. India last won an ICC title in 2013, when they won the ICC Champions Trophy in England.
He also took the examples of Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and Argentina Footballing legend Lionel Messi and said it took a long time for them to win the illusive trophy.
Speaking to SportsYaari, Shastri said, “I think India is due. They have been consistent – they reached finals, and semi-finals on a regular basis. Look at Sachin Tendulkar. He had to play six World Cups to win one ICC trophy. 6 World Cups mean 24 years. And in his last World Cup, he won.
Look at Lionel Messi. A classic example is. I mean how long he has been playing? And when he started winning, he won Copa America, and the World Cup and scored in the final as well. So you have to wait. It will rain.”
Shastri was the Indian coach when India reached the semi-finals of the ICC World Cup 2019 and then the WTC final in 2021. However, the Indian team fell shorts of getting the title on both occasions.
Ravi Shastri also spoke about the recent bout of injuries that the Indian team is facing and talked about the importance of workload management, saying that the players and the board need to have a serious talk over the same.
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"I find it hard to imagine (increase in injuries). You look at era we played in, the facilities that were available at that time. You found players playing 8-10 years easily. Lot of them would play 8-10 months of the year. I really don't know.. probably the volume of cricket has increased, no questions about that. There are different leagues around the world. The rest period is decreasing," Shastri added.
He suggested that players should be ready to skip a few games in the Indian Premier League if required and even the BCCI should take a stand against the franchise owners.
"The establishment and players will have to sit across the table. You need that much cricket and you need to give certain break. Even if it happens to be IPL. Board has to take the stand there, tell the franchises, 'listen, we need them. India need them. For India's sake, if he doesn't play those games, it will be good'," he added.
(SportsYaari inputs)
