'India will have to accept some errors': Gavaskar expects Indian management to take tough decisions

Even though they played a strong tournament, India lost to Australia in the final and wasted a great chance to win the trophy. Australia overcame the "final frontier" to win the match by six wickets and extend their record of six World Cup titles. India had a dominant and merciless 10-match winning streak heading into the summit clash, even defeating their archenemy New Zealand twice, including in the semi-final.

3 Things you need to know

• Team India lost the World Cup final against Australia
• Virat Kohli was the leading run-scorer in the tournament
• Mohammed Shami took the most number of wickets during World Cup 2023

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Even though the Men in Blue played the best cricket ever over 45 days, former captain Sunil Gavaskar feels the team needs to learn from the mistakes it made on Sunday, November 19, at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium. Left to lick their wounds, India's World Cup run was undoubtedly the best ever by a team that did not win the trophy. After captain Rohit Sharma was dismissed following a brilliant start, the rest of the Indian batsmen went into a shell, as they misjudged the conditions. Travis Head hammered down a century for the ages in 43 overs after India was bowled out for 240, despite half-centuries from KL Rahul and Virat Kohli.

Gavaskar wants Team India to learn from mistakes

After India suffered its eighth defeat in an ICC tournament knockout in the previous eight years, Gavaskar believes significant changes must be made and difficult questions must be raised. The fact that India hasn't won a T20 World Cup since the competition's inception 16 years ago, despite being a T20 powerhouse thanks to the IPL, is alarming and mistakes must be fixed.

"India will have to accept some of the errors they made in the final if they want to go on and win a trophy. Trying to show solidarity is one thing, but if mistakes are not accepted, then the progress will be slower. Over the next few weeks, big decisions will have to be made by individuals and the selection committee. India not winning the T20 World Cup after 2007 is a huge disappointment considering the exposure its players and youngsters get playing in the IPL," Gavaskar wrote in his column for The Mid-Day.
 

Over the past ten years, India has been the most reliable team. They had only lost one league match in the 2019 tournament before losing to New Zealand in the semifinals, and they had gone undefeated in the 2015 World Cup before losing to Australia in the same round. And now this. In addition, everyone has been haunted by the unpleasant memories of losing two World Test Championship finals, losing the Champions Trophy final, and losing in the semifinals of the T20 World Cup against the West Indies. Gavaskar acknowledged Team India's performance as a consolation prize and expressed confidence that the players would eventually overcome the disappointing outcomes and emerge stronger.

"It was disappointing for India to lose the World Cup, but that is now in the past, and the game will move on. The Indian team has made it to the final twice in the last four World Cups, winning once, and reaching the semi-finals twice more. When you compare that performance to the other teams, Gavaskar said, "only Australia has been better with two trophy wins. That is a terrific performance."