West Indies legend Brian Lara has issued a warning for India head coach Rahul Dravid as the Men in Blue are gearing up for the T20 World Cup 2024, scheduled to take place in the West Indies and USA from June 1 to June 29.
India have named an experienced squad despite many experts calling for the inclusion of youngsters like Rinku Singh and Abhishek Sharma in the line-up.
The 15-member squad features seasoned campaigners like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah among others.
However, Lara believes just having experience and big names will not be enough and Dravid will need to have plans in place to bring the best out of his players.
“You’ve got a lot of exciting young players coming out and you also have that sort of conundrum. India have gone with a team that has experience. My advice, and it’s not my criticism, it’s my advice, to Rahul Dravid is to make sure and have a plan,” Lara told PTI in an exclusive chat.
“Sometimes when you have a team with a lot of superstars, you forget the plan and you believe that the superstars can do it. They just have to turn up. Sometimes you may feel, as a coach, intimidated, telling Sir Vivian Richards or Virat Kohli, you know exactly what you expect of them,” he added.
Lara also compared the Indian side to the West Indies squad for the 1987 edition of the World Cup, where the Caribbean side failed to reach the semi-finals despite having some of the legendary names in their ranks.
“First of all, in terms of the players that were selected in the squad, let me start by saying that that’s a dilemma that a lot of countries have faced in the past. The West Indies in 1988 (1987 actually) is one example,” he said.
“Obviously when you have such great players, you want to stick to that experience because you feel that they can do it and there’s nothing wrong with it.”
However, Lara added that India have a squad capable of lifting the coveted T20 World Cup title.
“The team is capable of winning the World Cup. Yes, it’s a team that have maybe a couple of youngsters missing because of the situation. But I still believe that if they plan properly. India could win the World Cup,” he remarked.
India will open their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against Ireland in New York on June 5.
