Gavaskar believes India have become completely blinded by their 2011 World Cup triumph
Former India batsman Sunil Gavaskar has announced that ever since the national team won the 2011 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup, it has resulted in a severe decrease in their standards on the field and players have become far too “casual” in their approach to the game.
“After the success of 2011 World Cup, the attitude of some of the players became too casual,” Gavaskar told NDTV. “They started behaving as if the nation owes it to them for winning World Cup which is less than acceptable.”
Gavaskar also believes that Duncan Fletcher’s tenure as coach could come to an end unless he starts leading the team back on the right track.
“I support [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni when he says that the coach can’t get out there and score the runs,” Gavaskar added. “But yes, I would look if the attitude is too lacklustre or lackadaisical. In EPL or in La Liga, if a team continues to lose then the coach or the manager gets the boot.”
Gavaskar noted that Dhoni had been too talkative throughout the final Test against England at Nagpur, but could not make heads or tails of why the Indian captain had started chirping so much during the match.
“I think so,” Gavaskar said. “Dhoni knows that they have to be pro-active. I believe that things are changing but I hope it’s not too late.”
The former batsman pointed out that many of the young Indian batsmen could learn a thing or two from Joe Root, who was making his debut during the final Test and ended up scoring an excellent half-century in unfamiliar conditions.
“Look at their newcomer,” Gavaskar said. “He formed parnerships with Prior and Swann. If you ask me, this is not a difficult wicket to bat on but certainly difficult to score. The ball is not doing anything out of the ordinary and you can stay on this track. But since it’s not coming onto the bat and boundaries are big, you have to score in ones and twos. The problem with India is not being able to put up too many partnerships.”