The Indian cricket team had to face defeat in the ODI World Cup-2023. (PTI Photo)
Everyone was hopeful that this time Team India would end the drought of winning the World Cup that had been going on for 12 years. The team captained by Rohit Sharma had raised full hopes and it seemed that this time the cup belongs to India only. There was a reason for this also. Team India reached the final of the ODI World Cup-2023 by winning 10 consecutive matches. But in the final, Team India had to face defeat at the hands of Australia. Australia defeated India in a one-sided fashion and won the title for the sixth time. During this time, a weakness of Team India came to light and if it is not rectified in time, then the dream of winning the World Cup will remain a dream only.
This weakness is not having an alternative to Hardik Pandya. Pandya is the life of Team India. With his presence, the team gets the option of a sixth bowler and finally a fast run-scoring batsman. A batsman who knows how to finish matches and also handle the innings. But Pandya got injured in the match played against Bangladesh. After this he was out of the World Cup. The bad thing for India was that after this, India did not have an all-rounder like Pandya, otherwise they included fast bowler Prasidh Krishna in the team.
loss due to lack of option
As long as Pandya is there, there is no problem. But this all-rounder has been troubled due to his injuries and in such a situation, it is necessary for the team management to prepare an alternative for Pandya. How important this is is understood by the defeat in the final. Team India’s batsmen failed in the final. Suryakumar Yadav, who replaced Pandya in the playing-11, is continuously failing in ODIs, but the team had no option other than giving him a chance. If Pandya had been there in his place, he would have handled the innings. Or even if there was someone like Pandya, he would have tried to handle Team India. But this did not happen.
The biggest disadvantage of not having an option for Pandya is in bowling. It is not necessary that all five bowlers of the team go. In such a situation, the advantage of having the option of a sixth bowler would be that it can compensate. Even if Pandya had been there in the final, there would have been another option to take wickets and who knows whether he would have been successful or if the team had his option, he would have been successful. At least with this the team has more options and variations. Therefore, it has become necessary for the team to have an all-rounder like Pandya.
Will you have to prepare?
When Pandya was injured after the T20 World Cup-2021 and Rahul Dravid became the coach of the team and Rohit became the captain of the team, then both of them tried many players as substitutes for Pandya. The biggest name in this was Venkatesh Iyer. Before him, Vijay Shankar was being considered for this option. Deepak Chahar also emerged as an option. But all three failed. Now there is four years time for the ODI World Cup. But there is T20 World Cup next year. In such a situation, it has become very important for the team management to prepare an alternative for Pandya so that if Pandya is not available, he can be compensated. If this does not happen, then Team India’s dream of becoming world champion can remain a dream only.
