T20 World Cup: 'Warm-up match was washed out and Team India players opt not to practice,' criticises Sunil Gavaskar

Legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar on Friday expressed his disappointment at Indian players opting for an optional training session with two days to go for high-voltage India vs Pakistan match in T20 World Cup.

At the optional training session on Friday, many of the star faces of the Indian cricket team were missing as the session was led by Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid and were joined by Dinesh Karthik, Deepak Hooda, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami. At the same time, Pakistan underwent an intense training session, clips of which were shared on social media as well.

Sunil Gavaskar felt the lack of some of the known faces during India practice is a statement that he couldn’t agree with as rain expected on Saturday and Sunday; hindering furhter practice.

“I don’t know what it tells you but it’s something that I don’t agree with. I don’t agree with it for the simple reason that, at the start of the tournament, when you had your match (warm-up match) washed out, when you have come to Melbourne and had a day off, and then the next day, you opt not to practice?” Gavaskar told India Today.

“At the end of the day, those who didn’t come out for practice can turn out to be match-winners. But you want a rhythm going as a team. You want to see a sense of purpose.

Gavaskar felt the option for a player to sit out of practice should only lie with the captain and the coach of the team and not the players.

“Giving an option is something I believe only the captain and the coach should be doing. Say, if you scored a hundred in the previous game and you have a small niggle, the captain and the coach can give you the option of not practicing and say ‘if you don’t want to come to practice, it’s fine’. Similarly with a bowler, who has bowled maybe 20-30 overs and feeling a sore shoulder or something, then the captain and the coach can give that bowler the option of not coming for training.

“Giving the option to the players is a no-no. There never ever should be that option. Only the captain and the coach should be taking that call. How many times it has affected Indian cricket is unbelievable,” Gavaskar said.

Gavaskar went further ahead with his rant as he brought forward the fact that optional training is strictly a no-no at the start of the tournament.

“At the start of the tournament? In the middle of the tournament, you are on a roll, you have done really well, you give everybody a break. You go to a cinema, go wherever to take their mind off cricket. But at the start of the tournament, optional practice?

“Maybe on the eve of the match, they might all turn up (for practice). But that’s not it. I want to show that solidarity of purpose ‘look we want to win. Tomorrow if it rains, what happens? Your practice is gone,” Gavaskar added.

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