After an incredible 10 straight victories, legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar described the team’s heartbreaking defeat in the ODI World Cup final as just one bad day, acknowledging India’s enormous performance in the previous year. Sunil Gavaskar stated that the Men in Blue were a team to beat throughout the tournament.
Sunil Gavaskar emphasized the women’s team’s consecutive Test victories over Australia and England. In the T20 World Cup semifinals, Australia defeated the Women in Blue by a score of just five runs. They recovered, though, and won the gold medal at the Asian Games before winning back-to-back straightforward Test matches at home against Australia and England.
Both the Asia Cup and the gold medal at the Asian Games were won by the Men in Blue. They were defeated by Australia in the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup finals, though, therefore they were unable to snap their over ten-year trophy drought.
Just that one bad day, which sadly happened to be the finals of the World Cup – Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar discussed his opinions about the 2023 performances of the Indian cricket teams on the Star Sports show “Follow the Blues.” He added that team India had a great run by winning straight 10 matches in the World Cup, and that was just one bad day, and that happened to be the finals of the World Cup.
“That’s been the most exciting aspect of cricket apart from, of course, what we saw in the World Cup. The 10 straight wins, and, then, just that one bad day, which sadly happened to be the finals of the World Cup. So really some exciting times in 2023,” the former Indian Captain stated.
Sunil Gavaskar pointed out that by defeating strong Australia and England in Test matches, the Indian women’s team broke through a barrier. Sunil Gavaskar went on to say that the two victories increase the likelihood that Harmanpreet Kaur and co. will defeat their two opponents more frequently.
“I think it’s been a fantastic year for both the men’s and the women’s team, particularly the way the women’s team has performed. Those two Test wins towards the year-end, one against England and one against Australia, both teams against whom the Indian women’s team have had tough times earlier on,” he explained.
That was among the greatest years for Indian cricket- Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan stated 2023 as one of the best years of Indian cricket. He highlighted that they had the highest win percentage in Indian cricket history.
“I think it was an amazing year, the way they won matches. In ODIs, they had the highest win percentage in Indian cricket history. I think it was one of the best years of Indian cricket,” said Irfan Pathan.
Although the Men in Blue’s World Cup drought persisted, the former all-rounder from India mentioned Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli as some of the positive aspects from last year. Pathan emphasized that prior to the Asia Cup, India was not even seen as a World Cup candidate. He continued by saying that as soon as the continental event began, the situation improved.
“The World Cup victory again remained slightly away from us but overall there were a lot of positives. We saw Virat Kohli’s form, which we were used to for so many years, and Shubman Gill had an amazing year,” Pathan further added.