As the anticipation for the Cricket World Cup builds, Rohit Sharma and his team bear the hopes of a nation. India has not clinched an ICC event since 2013, making the Cricket World Cup on home soil a golden opportunity to end that drought. Playing on home turf comes with immense pressure, and former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist, a Cricket World Cup winner himself, shared some valuable advice for the Indian cricket team.
Responding to a question about offering guidance to young talents like Gill and Ishan Kishan, who will be experiencing their first ODI World Cup at home, Gilchrist emphasized the importance of tapping into the wisdom of cricketing legends.
“I can’t claim to know what it is like to be an Indian player, playing in India (laughs). It’s always intriguing. If I would be in the Indian hierarchy, I would be tapping into guys like Sachin (Tendulkar), MS (Dhoni) to come in and spend time with the group if they are available, and pass on all their experience,” he stated.
“I would have tried to get guys like Yuvraj (Singh), who had so much going on in his life during that 2011 tournament, and ask them to speak openly about it.
Virat, obviously, was part of that team without being a feature member of the team at that time. I would be drawing on that experience of playing a home World Cup and try to find out how they did it. If you can keep that external noise quiet, it allows you to play your best cricket.”
India’s final preparations before the Cricket World Cup at home include a three-match ODI series against Australia starting on September 22. Following this, they will engage in WC warm-up games against England on September 30 and the Netherlands on October 3. India will commence their Cricket World Cup campaign on October 8 against Australia in Chennai.
