Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar said that mental blockage is probably the reason because of which the Indian cricket team is not able to win an ICC title.
Team India suffered a disappointing 8-wicket loss in the WTC 2021 final against New Zealand, due to a poor batting performance on the reserve day of the final, which made New Zealand chase just 139 runs for the win.
India last tasted victory in an ICC event in 2013 when they won the Champions Trophy in England. Since then, they have reached the finals of the T20 World Cup 2014, Champions Trophy 2017, and WTC 2021, while finishing semi-finalists in the T20 World Cup 2016, World Cup 2015, and World Cup 2019.
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The loss in the WTC 2021 final marked Team India’s fifth straight defeat in the knockout stages of the ICC tournaments and raised certain questions about whether the Virat Kohli-led side are good at ICC knockout matches or not.
Batting great Sunil Gavaskar backed Team India, saying that it’s because of the mental blockage that team is not able to win an ICC title. He, however, added that in WTC final conditions favoured New Zealand more than India and they found it easy.
"If you look at the last few matches, that seems to be the case. Perhaps there is a mental blockage because of which we are not able to win an ICC title.
“But about this WTC title, we should remember that the conditions were exactly the ones that New Zealand players face. So they found it a little easy and that was not the case with India," Sunil Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
Sunil Gavaskar further slammed people pointing fingers at the Indian team, saying that New Zealand took advantage of the conditions and that was the reason they won the WTC final.
"We should remember that before pointing fingers at our team. Think of the fact that the conditions were like New Zealand and that's what their team took advantage of. That's why they could win the World Test Championship," he said.
The Indian team will be next seen in action when they face hosts England in the five-Test series, starting 4th August at Trent Bridge.
(Sports Tak inputs)
