"No Need To Panic": Sachin Tendulkar After India's Loss To New Zealand In World Cup Warm-Up
India, England and Pakistan, which are tipped by many as favourites to lift the World Cup, have lost their respective opening warm-up matches.
Highlights
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India lost to New Zealand by 6 wickets in the first warm-up game
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Pakistan suffered defeat against Afghanistan in their warm-up match
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Sachin Tendulkar feels teams' focus is on trying different combinations
Virat Kohli's men, one of the favourites to win the World Cup 2019, lost to New Zealand in the first warm-up game at the Oval, London, on Saturday. However, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar feels there is no need to panic as the team's focus, during the warm-up games, should be on trying different combinations before the beginning of the showpiece event on May 30. "I feel they need to just settle down. One or two games, in tournament like World Cup, can go the other way. During warm-up games, India just need to assess the playing conditions thoroughly and make full use of it during the tournament. So, I will not panic at the moment," Sachin Tendulkar said at a T20 Mumbai League press conference on Sunday.
"I will not judge the team after every game because it's a tournament and such things do happen in cricket and the tournament hasn't even started yet. In warm up games, teams are trying different batting and bowling combinations ahead of the World Cup," he added.
He also believes that many teams are doing this on purpose as they do not want to reveal their starting XI before the tournament.
"Most of the teams do not want to expose their proper starting XI and have rested their key bowlers and batsmen during the warm-up games," opined the batting maestro.
"At the same time, they are also trying out different combinations to ascertain what players can prove helpful in different playing conditions," he added.
India, England and Pakistan, which are tipped by many as favourites to lift the World Cup, have lost their respective opening warm-up matches. England lost to Australia while Pakistan suffered defeat against Afghanistan.
Reacting to Afghanistan's performance in the warm-up match, Sachin said, "I have said this earlier as well, Afghanistan is one team that will surprise us in this World Cup because, I believe, they have one of the best spin-bowling attacks who can pick wickets in the middle overs."
(With PTI inputs)
India Cricket Team
Virat Kohli
Sachin Tendulkar