‘I don’t want to see certain faces in next T20 World Cup': Virender Sehwag's scathing take on Team India's campaign

Sehwag did not name anyone but it was quite evident that he was talking about the senior members of the team in the wrong side of 30.

There have been some strong criticism of India's semi-final loss to England in the T20 World Cup and rightly so. The template that India went in with despite all the talks in the last 12 months under new captain Rohit Sharma, was exactly the same if not worse than the one that had brought about their downfall in the last T20 World Cup in the UAE in 2021. Former India opener Virender Sehwag joined the bandwagon in pulling up Team India.

India bowed out of the T20 World Cup after losing to England in the semi-final(AFP)

Echoing the thoughts of the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, Sehwag said he would not want to see some of the players of the current Indian team in the next T20 World Cup in 2024. The former India opener gave the example of India's 2007 T20 World Cup-winning team under MS Dhoni that was full of youngsters and minus the established big names.

"I won't talk about mindset and all but I would definitely want to see changes in personnel. I don't want to see certain faces in the next World Cup. It happened in the 2007 T20 World Cup also. The stalwarts playing for all these years did not go to that World Cup. A bunch of youngsters went and nobody had any expectations from them and I would want to see a similar sort of team picked for the next T20 World Cup, nobody will expect them to win but that team will be for the future," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.

Sehwag did not name anyone but it was quite evident that he was talking about the senior members of the team in the wrong side of 30.

The two-time World Cup-winning legendary cricketer, however, added that it will be easier said than done, considering the fact there is a new selection panel due to take charge in December this year.

"If you start thinking about your future now then only you'll be able to put together a team in two years' time. I would not want to see some non-performing seniors in the next World Cup. I hope the selectors will make such calls. But the problem is will these selectors remain till the next World Cup? There will be a selection panel, new management, new approach so will they make the changes? But one thing is for sure if they go into the next World Cup with the same team and the same approach then the results will also be the same," he added.

India will next travel to New Zealand for a limited-overs series against New Zealand under Hardik Pandya's leadership. There is already an indication that most of the seniors will slowly ease out from the shortest format of the game and focus more on the ODI World Cup at home next year.