India’s former opening batsman Gautam Gambhir expressed his views on Team India’s repeated low performance in big matches. Gambhir stated that the Indian team is unable to handle pressure, a crucial attribute that differentiates a good and a very good player. He stressed on the fact that the team lacks ‘mental strength’ to deal with high pressure situations and he believes that if India does not get better in this aspect then it would not be able to achieve the World Champion title.
“What sets you apart from being a good player to being a very, very good player in a team squad is what you do on those crucial games. I think probably we have not been able to handle the pressure, probably other teams have been able to handle the pressure that way,” Gambhir stated on Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports.
India has been the World Champion twice, 1983 and 2011, but has been eliminated four times in the semi-finals of the WC.
“If you look at all the semi-finals and finals, it just shows when playing really well in the league stage and you don’t play well in the semi-finals or knockouts, it’s probably your mental toughness as well. We can keep talking that we’ve got everything, we have the ability to be the world champions, but till the time you don’t go on the cricket field and prove that, you will never be called the world champions,” he said.
Adding further he said, “I’ve always said this, in bilaterals and league stages you have got probably a chance to make the mistake, come to the knockout stages, you don’t have a chance to make a mistake, you make a mistake and you’re going back home. So, that’s where beliefs come into play and that where India lacks in all those crucial games.”
Gambhir was part of the 2011 World Cup winning team and retired in the year 2018.