A Cricket World Cup in India - it's a dream come true for a nation that loves to idolise its cricketers. The last time India hosted the ODI World Cup, MS Dhoni's men brought cheers to billions by winning the marquee event. This time, Rohit Sharma and Co. are carrying the hopes of the country. India have not won any ICC event since 2013 and the World Cup at home is a brilliant opportunity to end that drought. Playing at home brings with it great pressure. Former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist, himself a World Cup winner, had a piece of special advice for the Indian cricket team.
To a question by Sportstar, which read, "What will your advice be for the youngsters like Gill and Ishan Kishan, who will be playing their first ODI World Cup at home?" Gilchrist said:
"I can't claim to know what it is like to be an Indian player, playing in India (laughs). It's always intriguing. If I would be in the Indian hierarchy, I would be tapping into guys like Sachin (Tendulkar), MS (Dhoni) to come in and spend time with the group if they are available, and pass on all their experience," he said.
"I would have tried to get guys like Yuvraj (Singh), who had so much going on his life during that 2011 tournament, and ask them to speak openly about it.
"Virat, obviously, was part of that team without being a feature member of the team at that time. I would be drawing on that experience of playing a home World Cup and try to find out how they did it. If you can keep that external noise quiet, it allows you to play your best cricket."
India's final assignment before the World Cup at home will be a three ODI series against Australia from September 22 onwards. After this, they will play WC warm-up games against England (September 30) and the Netherlands (October 3). India will then start its World Cup campaign on October 8 against the Aussies at Chennai.
In a conversation on JioCinema's 'Home of the Blues', former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim weighed in on Ravichandran Ashwin's return to India's ODI squad.
"I think Rohit Sharma looks at Ravichandran Ashwin as a match-winner and he is very clear in the kind of approach he wants to portray in white ball cricket. Now with the World Cup coming up, he understands the dynamics of one-day cricket quite well and knows that he has to pick players who have that kind of an attacking mindset.
"He also knows that in his bowling lineup, he needs to have out of six, at least five wicket-taking options and if he has Ashwin in the eleven, then that attacking option is available. If you look at all the other players who are in the reserve – they all have that attacking mindset. So, I think Rohit Sharma wants to continue with this aggressive approach that we saw the Indian team play in the Asian challenge."
Ashwin had last played an ODI last year in January against South Africa. Even then, he had returned to ODIs after June 2017.
With ANI inputs