'6 months away from home World Cup and...': England great tears into Rohit Sharma-led India with 'underachieving' tag

After the recent series loss at home against Australia has has led to serious concerns on the Indian team with the England great brutally attacking the side, calling them “underachieving in white-ball cricket”

Roughly six months left before the blockbuster 2023 World Cup kicks off in India. England will be heading into the contest as the defending champions, having won the 2019 edition of the tournament at home. New Zealand, who were the runners up, will be among the top contenders as well along with five-time champions Australia. But all eyes will be on the Rohit Sharma-led side, who have been touted to emulate what MS Dhoni and his men had done 12 years back. But former England captain Michael Vaughan has blasted the Indian side with “underachieving” tag and hinted at snubbing them from the title favourite list.

India's Hardik Pandya, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and others (ANI)

Dhoni-led side had started a trend in ODI World Cups. Since 2011, home teams have lifted the trophy with Australia in 2015 and England in 2019. This would indicate that India could complete circle with their third World Cup trophy win later in October this year.

However a recent series loss at home against Australia has has led to serious concerns on the Indian team with Vaughan brutally attacking the side, calling them “underachieving in white-ball cricket”. He had earlier said this when India had lost in the 2022 T20 World Cup and in edition previous to that. The veteran England cricketer feels that the Rohit-led side are a long way off from winning the title at the moment.

Earlier last week, in an interview with Khaleej Times, Vaughan had in fact hailed England as the favourites for the World Cup.

“I have to say that England are the favourites even if it's in conditions that you know is little bit different to what it was in 2019 when they won the World Cup (in England). They (England) have got good spin options. They have got good players who play spin nicely. They have got good variations with the seam bowlers, Jofra Archer coming back (from injury) is huge. And Mark Wood is bowling at 90 miles per hour. So I think England have got the experience," he had said.