India not chokers, probably most consistent side in ICC tournaments: Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir made headlines for his retirement recently and almost all the tributes to the cricketer mentioned his two knocks in the finals of the World Cups, the T20 and the ODI ones, which played a huge role in India’s victories. And so he’s an obvious choice to be called for any event related to any World Cup. Gautam was seen at an event in the build-up to the ICC World Cup 2019 on Wednesday, where he was asked about India being ‘chokers’, failing to win any World Cup since their win in 2011.   

READ: Twitterati Slam Gautam Gambhir For Hitting Out At MS Dhoni After Retirement

Gautam replied, “I don’t think so. I think it’s important to be consistent. You win the 2011 and then the 2014 Champions Trophy in England. There are other sides as well who are playing very good cricket, whether it’s England, Australia in the One-day format and other countries.

I think India is probably the most consistent side in ICC tournaments. We played the last Champions Trophy final as well where we got beaten by Pakistan.

"Going into this tournament, your first aim is to reach the knockout stage. Anything can happen once you qualify for the knockouts because it’s just on the given day as well. You don’t say India has become chokers, it’s just about crossing the line and there’s nothing that stops us from crossing the line. We should be happy they have played very good cricket in ICC tournaments till now.” 

In an interview with ANI on the sidelines on the event, the left-handed batsman also expressed delight at the women’s team performance in recent times. “I’m happy that the women’s team is doing well because a couple of years back, no one would take women’s cricket seriously. The credit needs to go to all the players. They’ve taken it to a platform where people have started taking them seriously and even BCCI has got serious about it, whether it was them playing the finals of the 50-over world cup or the semi-finals of the T20 one.” 

On the second test match in the ongoing India-Australia series, Gautam is hopeful of an exciting test, but feels it is advantage India.

He said, “I think it’s going to be a good contest. India will obviously have a lot of confidence going into the Perth test match, because it is 1-0 advantage India. Australia will always be wary as Indians can come strong. If India do well, the series is obviously gone. I’m sure it’s going to be an exciting test match. 

"The wicket is going to suit the fast bowlers, so whoever can bowl well and put the runs on the board will be the one to dominate the test match.” 

Gautam had signed off in style by scoring a hundred in his last match, Delhi versus Andhra Pradesh encounter in the Ranji Trophy few days ago.