India is probably the most consistent side in ICC tournaments: Gautam Gambhir

There is absolutely no denying that India are one of the best if not the best limited-overs side in the world at the moment. A batting lineup led by Virat Kohli has the potential to blow away any bowling lineup while the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav can make light work of any batting lineup. India’s fielding is equally impressive.

Not surprisingly, India have done well in recent ICC tournaments. However, while the Men in Blue have constantly progressed far in almost all the competitions since winning the 2011 World Cup, they don’t have much to show in the trophy cabinet except the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013.

India failed to progress to the semifinal of the World T20 in 2012. A couple of years later, they qualified for the final but lost to Sri Lanka. In 2015, they ended up losing in the semifinal of the World Cup to eventual winners Australia. A year later, India suffered a heartbreaking loss in the World T20, losing to eventual winners Windies in the semifinal at home. In 2017, they progressed to the final of the Champions Trophy and had a glorious chance of defending their title. However, they suffered a humiliating loss to arch-rivals Pakistan.

Gambhir opposes

India’s poor record in the knockout games have made many believe that they find it tough to deliver in the pressure situation and have given them the title of chokers. However, former India batsman Gautam Gambhir vehemently opposes the suggestion as he called India the most consistent team in ICC competitions.

“I don’t think so. I think it’s important to be consistent. You win the 2011 and then the 2013 Champions Trophy in England. There are other sides as well who are playing very good cricket, whether it’s England, Australia in the One-day format and other countries. I think India is probably the most consistent side in ICC tournaments. We played the last Champions Trophy final as well where we got beaten by Pakistan,” said Gambhir as quoted by Republic TV.

He further pointed out why India should not be called chokers, saying, “Going into this tournament, your first aim is to reach the knockout stage. Anything can happen once you qualify for the knockouts because it’s just on the given day as well. You don’t say India has become chokers, it’s just about crossing the line and there’s nothing that stops us from crossing the line. We should be happy they have played very good cricket in ICC tournaments till now.”

~ Written by Bijoy