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Former England cricketer David Lloyd has downplayed India’s threat in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 scheduled to be played in the West Indies and USA from June 2. Notably, India have had a dismal record in ICC tournaments since 2013 as they haven’t won a single trophy in 10 years despite regularly qualifying for the knockout stages.
Ahead of the upcoming World Cup Lloyd once again feels that the ‘Men in Blue’ will not have a big impact on the tournament as he called them a ‘predictable team’. He further said that the oppositions would be wary of the high-quality players the team has but mentioned that they won’t be taking many risks.
“(It is) quite a predictable team. The shackles are not off. I would think the opposition accept the quality.. yeah, good players these. But they ain’t taking a risk with bat or ball. So, you’d think of them as ‘yeah, they will have their moments,’ but they wouldn’t be really threatening,” said Lloyd on TalkSport Cricket Podcast.
Ahead of the tournament, there were widespread discussions on the future of the Indian senior players in the T20I side. However, the Indian selectors once again showed faith in the star batting duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli who will be seen playing in the upcoming tournament. To accommodate the batting stalwarts into the squad, young finisher Rinku Singh had to be shifted to the reserves.
Rohit, who endured a forgetful campaign in the previous edition of the tournament, will be seen captaining the side. The opening batter scored 116 runs from six innings in the 2022 edition, at an average of 19.33 and a strike rate of 106.42 with a solitary half-century to his name against Netherlands.
Virat Kohli’s strike rate saga
On the other hand, there was widespread criticism of Virat Kohli’s strike rate in T20Is not being up to standards of the modern-day cricket. The 35-year-old was put under fire for his slow knocks in the first half of the Indian Premier League 2024 until he finally shut his critics with an improved strike rate in the second half of the season.
Despite being home to the world’s grandest T20 league in the world, India have failed to clinch a T20 World Cup since 2007. With the upcoming event being portrayed as the last one for the senior batting duo, both Rohit and Kohli will be eager to prove their naysayers wrong and help India end their ICC trophy drought.
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