Like any other Indian cricket fan, Virender Sehwag was also utterly disappointed with Team India’s embarrassing exit from the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 following their 10-wicket loss to England in the second semi-final at Adelaide Oval on November 10.
While many blamed the players' mindset for India's another failure at the knockout stage of the World Cup, the former Indian opener said he didn't want to see certain faces in the next World Cup, calling for changes in the national set-up.
Sehwag further urged the national selectors to follow the 2007 T20 World Cup template, when legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid were not picked for the mega ICC event and the youngsters stunned the world by winning the first edition of the tournament under MS Dhoni.
Virender Sehwag said on Cricbuzz: “I won’t talk about mindset and all but I would definitely want to see changes in personnel. I don’t want to see certain faces in the next World Cup. It happened in the 2007 T20 World Cup also. The stalwarts playing for all these years did not go to that World Cup.”
The former batter continued, “A bunch of youngsters went and nobody had any expectations from them and I would want to see a similar sort of team picked for the next T20 World Cup, nobody will expect them to win but that team will be for the future.”
Sehwag was very straightforward in saying that he doesn’t want to see some non-performing senior players in the next World Cup and also urged the national selectors to start building the team for the next T20 World Cup from now on, otherwise results will never change.
The legendary batter further explained, “If you start thinking about your future now then only, you’ll be able to put together a team in two years’ time. I would not want to see some non-performing seniors in the next World Cup. I hope the selectors will make such calls.”
He signed off by saying, “But the problem is will these selectors remain till the next World Cup? There will be a selection panel, new management, new approach so will they make the changes? But one thing is for sure if they go into the next World Cup with the same team and the same approach then the results will also be the same.”
