The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, slated to be held in the West Indies and USA from June 1 to June 29, serves as an opportunity to Team India to end their long-standing global trophy drought.
The Men in Blue, led by Rohit Sharma, will begin their campaign against Ireland in at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York on June 5.
Days before India’s opening match, former skipper Sourav Ganguly shared an important message for head coach Rahul Dravid and his wards, asking them to opt for a more relaxed approach to succeed in the T20 World Cup.
According to Ganguly, India make the mistake of 'pushing too much', which is often visible if one looks at the wives of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the stands.
"If I can say something to Rahul [Dravid] and, make no mistake, he is a champion cricketer and cricket brain, it will be to relax a little. When I see Rohit's wife in the stands, it is evident how much pressure she is under. When I see Virat's wife, I see the kind of pressure she is feeling. We in India make this mistake of pushing too much. I think back to the 2003 [World Cup] final, for example. If anything, we need to relax when we are playing the big games. Just play with freedom," Ganguly said while speaking to Revsportz.
Last year, India had a great chance to end the ICC trophy drought but they once again failed to cross the final hurdle. The Rohit Sharma-led side won all the league-stage matches and the semi-final before losing the title clash of the Cricket World Cup to Australia in Ahmedabad.
"In the 2023 World Cup, despite losing the final, I will say India was the best team. We played some fantastic cricket right through the competition. If only we could be a little relaxed for the final. That's what I want to see. That we play with freedom, but also don't put too much pressure on ourselves," Ganguly further remarked.
Meanwhile, India registered a comprehensive 60-run victory over Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up clash in New York on Saturday (June 1).
Opting to bat first, the inaugural champions posted 182/5 on the board on the back of Rishabh Pant’s half-century (53 retd hurt off 32 balls) and handy contributions from Suryakumar Yadav (31 off 18) and Hardik Pandya (40* off 23).
In reply, Bangladesh managed 122/9 in their allotted 20 overs. It was a listless batting display as most of them fell for a single-digit score. Mahmudullah waged a lone battle with the bat as he scored 40 off 28 balls before retiring out.
Arshdeep Singh (2/12 in 3 overs), Shivam Dube (2/13 in 3 overs), Jasprit Bumrah (1/12 in 2 overs), Mohammed Siraj (1/17 in 3 overs), Hardik Pandya (1/30 in 3 overs) and Akshar Patel (1/10 in 2 overs) were among the wickets for India.
