ICC World Cup 2019 | Going in cold against good teams is never easy, laments Sunil Gavaskar
BCCI
Sunil Gavaskar rued the poor scheduling of the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019 as India gear up to play their first match of the campaign against South Africa on Wednesday. Virat Kohli & Co. will only get a one-day break in between the games against England and Bangladesh in the coming weeks.
All eyes will be on the Indian cricket team as they gear up to kick-off their World Cup campaign by taking on a hurting South African team who have suffered back-to-back losses against England and Bangladesh last week. Virat Kohli & Co. will back themselves to pull off a win in their opening game as they aim to go all the way at the global showpiece event in the coming months.
However, former India opener Sunil Gavaskar was critical of the scheduling process that was implemented for the World Cup which will see India play their first match after most of the teams have already played two games each. In his column for TOI, Gavaskar mentioned that it would be tough to start the campaign against a strong opponent without any prior match practice but backed the Indians to do well in Southampton.
"The internal issues at BCCI probably didn't allow the officials to have a close look at the schedule before it was firmed up, else they would have noticed that India, one of the top draws of the event, were going to play their first game well after almost every other team would have played their second one.
"Going in cold against good teams is never easy, but neighbours Bangladesh have made it a bit better by defeating South Africa. There is another scheduling issue later in the month when India get just a day's break after what promises to be hard, draining game against England before playing Bangladesh, and that could be a tricky one indeed. India are the only team who have just this one-day break while other teams have invariably a minimum of two between their next game. India will be playing after a whole week's gap after their last warm-up game. All these factors may not count in the end, because the team is good and versatile, but if India do stumble then these aspects will have to be answered for, " Gavaskar wrote in his column for TOI.
The 69-year-old former India captain also mentioned that he would like to see KL Rahul bat at number four while adding that MS Dhoniās good form will give India some hope heading into the WC.
"With Rahul scoring a hundred against Bangladesh in the warm-up game, the No. 4 position is accounted for. His experience as an opener will come in handy if the conditions are overcast. With Dhoni in good form, the top-order seems to be sorted, " Gavaskar added.
