Lalchand Rajput has been around Indian cricketing circuit for a long time now and he did not hesitate once to talk about the importance of India’s 2024 T20 World Cup win in the Caribbean.
“It was a proud moment for us,” he said, talking about the T20 World Cup triumph as India lifted an ICC trophy after 11 years.
Rajput is currently with GT20 Canada franchise Surrey Jaguars and said that such tournaments across the globe will help cricket to grow in different parts of the world.
While the Canadian league has him occupied, a part of his mind is also closely tracking Indian cricket and he is happy with the changes in India’s T20 setup.
In a conversation with News18 CricketNext, the former India coach talks about the World Cup win, Gautam Gambhir’s appointment as the head coach, Afghanistan cricket and much more.
Excerpts…
Indian cricket has entered a new era with Gautam Gambhir becoming the head coach. Your views on Gambhir’s appointment?
To be very honest, it depends upon the coaches as well because you are starting a new chapter and the players have to abide by the style of your functioning and every coach has a different style of functioning. How quickly he gets to know the players, adapts himself with the captain is important. The captain and coach are very important.
The skipper drives the team on the field; the coach does that off the field. The captain and the coach should be on the same wavelength. I am sure Gautam Gambhir, who has done exceptionally well for KKR will get that team bonding together and start the journey on a positive note.
Gambhir is very passionate about the game. He hates losing. He wants to win all the time and that is a very good thing. He being associated with the Knight Riders has made a lot of difference and I am sure he will add value to the team.
How do you see Suryakumar Yadav being appointed as the skipper of the T20I side?
People do not know much about him. He has led Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy as well as the shorter format as well. So, he has that idea of leading a side and being a Mumbaikar, he will adjust to the dressing room atmosphere because he has worked with so many captains and Rohit is still there as ODI & Test captain, so, hopefully, he will have some inputs from Sharma as well.
I would say this is good from BCCI as well that they have recognised his performances in the T20 format and given him the captaincy.
Shubman Gill is the vice-captain for the Sri Lanka tour. Your thoughts?
Shubman Gill is a very talented cricketer. To be honest, he just missed out on playing the World Cup. The year before that, he was just exceptional. The recent form certainly pushed him out of the format. But with the Zimbabwe tour, he did exceptionally well and the selectors have found that he is a player who can be groomed as a captain.
India finally lifted an ICC trophy after 11 years. As a former player and Indian cricket fan, how did you feel?
I think it is a proud moment for everyone, the cricketers, and the people who support us. The entire nation wanted it. We had just missed out on winning the ODI World Cup last year. Everybody was hoping that this time we should win it. So, yeah it’s a great thing. Hardik, Arshdeep, Bumrah bowled really well in the final stages, and to top it up, SKY took a brilliant catch. I think we played really well under pressure. It was a great and proud moment for whole country.
Did you see the three retirements (Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma & Ravindra Jadeja) coming?
To be very honest, nobody knew that the three were retiring. But if a player wants to go on a high note, this was the best time. Winning the World Cup is a pinnacle. Rohit was a part of 2007 T20 World Cup, Virat had played 50-over World Cup in 2011 so, two World Cups for both of them and that’s great. I was a bit surprised with Jadeja’s retirement. But I guess he must be having his own plans and we should respect those decisions.
Do you think retiring from one format at a certain age is helpful in focusing on the other ones?
See, it depends on player and their fitness. How much workload can a player take, that’s also important. If you want to prolong your career, then your workload has to be managed and accordingly decide which format you want to let go. In my opinion, this is purely individual’s decision.
You have been closely associated with Afghanistan. What is that one mantra that is working for them as they have been performing really well at the big stage?
See, one thing is very important and that is, they are very passionate about cricket just like India. They have hero worship in Afghanistan. In last 8-10 years, they have really come up from being an associate country to having a Test status. When I was the coach, they got the Test status. After that, they have just been moving forward. They have become a force in international cricket.
If you look at their bowling, they probably have one of the best attacks in the world and have a good batting unit too. The only thing is that, in longer format they have to sustain and bat longer and make big scores. If they can do that, this team will be the team to watch in the future.
When I was there, we used to say just one thing that do not take any tension. Tension lene ka nahi, dene ka. This is the simple mantra they follow.
Afghanistan lost to Australia in the 50-over World Cup fixture, a game that they should have won but later on defeated the same opposition in the T20 World Cup 2024 match. If you would have been the coach, what is that one thing that you would have told them on both the occasions?
If you look at the 50-over World Cup game, they were very close. But that day Maxwell played an innings out of the world but at the same time, Afghanistan dropped some catches. At that point of time, they were not able to handle the pressure but now (in the T20 World Cup 2024 fixture), they backed themselves and kept it simple. That’s how they beat Australia. I think they are learning and I am sure in the coming years, they will be a force to reckon.
What do you make of GT20 & how are the preparations going?
It is a great opportunity and we are looking forward to it. See, cricket is going global. ICC is doing a great job in giving permission to these countries to hold these leagues. T20 is a format where you can get international players and these cricketers rubbing shoulders with the local players adds a lot of value. Moreover, it also gives a lot of confidence to the local players. I think cricket is a medium where you can get everyone together.
There are a number of T20 leagues happening around the globe. According to you, how helpful it is to have such tournament in Canada as well?
You must have seen in this year’s T20 World Cup that Canada had qualified. Why this has happened? Because, the last couple of years, they have been playing in the GT20 Canada. When the tournament comes, a lot of international players come and when the international players come, the local players rub shoulders with them, they share the dressing room with them. So, they get a lot of experience with that and their confidence level becomes much better. That’s the reason why I think the team is doing well.
This generates a lot of interest in the youngsters and they want to play for the country. The league has definitely helped to generate that enthusiasm.
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