Nasser Hussain says lack of a 'Plan B' has let India down in recent ICC tournaments

Nasser Hussain has revealed his reasoning as to why Team India has not succeeded in winning a major ICC tournament after their ICC Champions Trophy 2013 win in England & Wales under the charismatic Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Since the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 triumph, India have failed to win even a single ICC event. In fact, they have made it to semi-finals thrice (World Cup 2015, World T20 2016 & World Cup 2019) and have also made two final appearances (ICC World T20 2014 & ICC Champions Trophy 2017).

Despite being labeled as the pre-tournament favorites on most occasions, the Men In Blue have failed to rediscover their rhythm when it matters the most i.e. during the knockout matches. 

'It's about having a Plan B': Nasser Hussain

“I would say the selection is where India have gone wrong over the ICC tournaments, adapting to conditions a little bit. So it’s not just about having one game plan,” said Hussain while interacting on Star Sports.

“Adapting to conditions, if it’s nibbling around and if you are in a World Cup semi-final against New Zealand and it’s doing a little bit, where is your middle-order if you are 20 for 2 and Kohli and Sharma are out? It could almost be a fault of Indian cricket that they are too good at the top of the order. When it’s good and flat, okay Kohli hundred, Sharma hundred, hundreds at the top and lads in the middle order don’t get a hit,” the former English skipper added.

"And suddenly you are 20 for 3 because you have come up against (Mitchell) Starc, (Josh) Hazlewood and suddenly all the guys haven’t had a hit and we are four down and how we are going to get out of it now. So it’s about having a Plan B that will get them across the line, not just having a Plan A,” the cricketer-turned-commentator/analyst further added. 

'We need to win 2 out of the next 3 World Cups': Rohit Sharma

During their Instagram live session in April, former Indian as well as Mumbai Indians teammates Rohit Sharma and Harbhajan Singh discussed what Team India needs to do in order to win major global tournaments in the future. 

"In the coming years, we have three World Cups. Two T20 World Cups (2020 & 2021) and one ODI World Cup (2023). Out of these three World Cups, my goal is to win two of them", said Rohit Sharma. 

READ: 'My Dream Is To Still Win World Cups', Rohit Sharma Recalls India's 2019 WC Campaign

(Image Courtesy: AP)