Team India faced a humiliating 10-wicket loss in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup against England on Thursday. After being restricted to 168/6 in 20 overs, India conceded a record unbeaten 170-run opening partnership, as Jos Buttler and Alex Hales steered England to the final of the global tournament. Following the loss, the Indian team is facing severe criticism for its uninspiring performance and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar also spoke in detail about the issues surrounding the side's disappointing end to the campaign.
The former Indian batter had earlier talked about the concerns over ‘workload management’ after India's defeat, referring to a number of key players opting to rest for multiple bilateral series over the year. Now, Gavaskar has also touched upon the increasing number of support staff members in the squad, which, according to him, leads to more “confusion” among the players.
“1983 me jo World Cup jeeta tha, team ke saath ek hi manager the, Maan Singh. Fir 1985 me bhi jo team jeeti, uske saath Prasanna manager the. Uske baad 2011 me jab team jeeti, tab itne saare log nahi the. Mujhe aashcharya hai ki support staff ka number team se bhi zyada hai. Players confuse hote hain ki main kiski sunu? (In 1983 World Cup, we had one manager. Same in 1985. When the team won in 2011, there weren't many people as well. I'm surprised the number of support staff is higher than the team members. Players get confused on whom to listen),” Gavaskar said on Aaj Tak.
“Mujhe samajh nahi aata ki jab aapke paas Rahul Dravid jaise duniya ke mahaan ballebaaz hain, tab aapko aur ek batting coach ki kya zarurat hai? Agar Dravid kuch keh rahe hain, aur Vikram Rathour kuch aur keh rahe hian, toh ballebaaz confuse hoga. Aapko dekhna hoga ki kya hamein itne logon me sahi me zarurat hai kya? Agar zarurat nahi hai, toh unko team ke saath mat bhejiye. (I don't understand, when you have such a legendary batter like Rahul Dravid, why do you need a batting coach? Dravid says something, and Vikram Rathour says something else, and that leads to confusion. We need to understand how many members we need in the support staff)," Gavaskar further said.
{{/usCountry}}“Mujhe samajh nahi aata ki jab aapke paas Rahul Dravid jaise duniya ke mahaan ballebaaz hain, tab aapko aur ek batting coach ki kya zarurat hai? Agar Dravid kuch keh rahe hain, aur Vikram Rathour kuch aur keh rahe hian, toh ballebaaz confuse hoga. Aapko dekhna hoga ki kya hamein itne logon me sahi me zarurat hai kya? Agar zarurat nahi hai, toh unko team ke saath mat bhejiye. (I don't understand, when you have such a legendary batter like Rahul Dravid, why do you need a batting coach? Dravid says something, and Vikram Rathour says something else, and that leads to confusion. We need to understand how many members we need in the support staff)," Gavaskar further said.
{{/usCountry}}The former India captain further added that BCCI has enough money to send “50-100 people” to away tours, but they need to realise if the number is helping the team.
“Mujhe pata hai BCCI ke paas bohot paise hain, vo 50-100 logon ka bhi squad bhej sakte hain. Bilkul. Par 50-100 log team ko madad kar rahi hai? Kuch fayda ho raha hai? (I know BCCI has money, they can even send 50-100 people with the squad. But is it really helping the team?),” said Gavaskar.