Begin typing your search above and press return to search.
News
'Two camps in team', 'matter of investigation': Why all is not well within Team India at T20 World Cup
Why have India started off their T20 World Cup campaign on such a disastrous note? Former cricketers say the on-field performance is directly related to the lack of clarity in the Indian dressing room.
India's poor start to their T20 World Cup campaign is because of the atmosphere in the dressing room, former cricketers have speculated.
The fact that Virat Kohli announced in the lead-up to the tournament that this would be his last assignment as T20I captain is one of the reasons why the Indian team looks scattered in the UAE, said former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar.
"Why I can see that there are two camps within the team? One is with the Kohli and one against Kohli. It's crystal clear. The team is looking divided. I don't know why this is happening. Maybe it's because of his last T20 World Cup as a skipper. Maybe he made wrong decisions, which is true. But he's a great cricketer, and we have to respect him," Akhtar told Sportskeeda.
Former Indian captain Dilip Vengsarkar, on the other hand, said the 'mystery' of Ravichandran Ashwin's continuing exclusion from the playing XI is a 'matter of investigation'.
Ashwin last played for India in the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in June. He was kept on the bench in the Tests vs England thereafter. After a surprise call-up to the T20 World Cup squad, he played the two warm-up matches against England and Australia, even claiming two wickets. However, he has been relegated to the bench again in the main phase of the tournament.
"Why is Ashwin being so dropped for so long? It is a matter of investigation. Across formats, he is your best spinner with more than 600 international wickets. He is your senior-most spinner and you don't pick him. I fail to understand. He didn't play a single game in the England Test series also. Why do you pick him then? It is a mystery to me," Vengsarkar told PTI.
Former captain Mohammed Azharuddin also said the off-field attitude of the Indian team is indicative of the lack of clarity within the team, pointing to how neither the captain nor coach Ravi Shastri attended the press conference after the defeat to New Zealand, instead sending Jasprit Bumrah to face the questions.
"You can't just attend press conferences after victories, you must give an explanation for defeats too. Sending Bumrah for the press conference was not right. Either the captain or the coach should have come for the presser or someone from the coaching staff," Azharuddin told ABP News.
Next Story
