It is approaching a decade now since India last lifted a major ICC title, with the Men in Blue making it a habit of stumbling just near the finish line in recent tournament appearances.
Since clinching the 2011 World Cup on home soil, the Indians have been knocked out in the semi-final stage of two 50-over global editions along with final and semi-final defeats in the ICC World T20. Along the way, they also suffered an embarrassing loss to Pakistan in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy in England.
Their most recent major tournament debacle came in England again, where Virat Kohli and his men were sucker punched by New Zealand in the semi-final of the World Cup.
One man who knows how to win it all is Yuvraj Singh with the all-rounder playing starring roles in India’s conquest of the 2011 World Cup and 2007 World T20 titles.
The 38-year-old believes it is imperative for the current India crop to translate their bilateral dominance into World Cup success in the near future.
“Of course they should (win a major title). With the amount of talent that they have in the form of the players and squad, they really should,” Yuvraj told Sport360 on the sidelines of the Expo 2020 Dubai cricket final.
After India’s middle-order vulnerabilities were exposed by the Kiwis in the Manchester semi-final, Yuvraj believes that the team was let down by ‘poor planning’ in the run-up to the 2019 World Cup.
“I just felt that the 2019 World Cup planning was really poor,” he said.
New Zealand beat India by 18 runs in the semi-final.
“I think that the team management and selectors made some really bad calls – before the World Cup and in the World Cup – and that is what cost them.
“So we definitely need better minds behind the scene, and better selectors.”
However, with his former skipper Sourav Ganguly being appointed to the BCCI president’s post last year, Yuvraj feels that positive changes will be made behind the scenes for India.
“I think Sourav Ganguly coming in as BCCI president will give a lot of brain to it in making such things better,” he reasoned.
“We have the talent no doubt, we just need a good think tank, and hopefully we will be ready for the coming T20I World Cup in Australia.”
Ganguly and the BCCI are set to make two new appointments in India’s selection panel by the end of February, following the completion of the tenures of selection chief MSK Prasad and Gagan Khoda. While previously the BCCI used to follow the model of appointing the earliest capped player in the selection panel as its chief, Ganguly has signalled his intentions of making a change.
The BCCI president has announced that the most capped Test player among the five-man panel will be elected as the chief selector going forward.
