‘Don’t write off the Indian team’: Mohammad Kaif requests cricket fans | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Former India player Mohammad Kaif has come out in full support of the Indian team as he urged ardent cricket fans to show unity instead of being divided by their individual choice of players ahead of big-ticket Asia Cup and ODI World Cup tournaments.

The Indian team think-tank’s decision to rest Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharmafor the last two ODIs against West Indies has sparked significant criticism.

Even though India lost the second ODI against the Windies, they managed to register a 2-1 series win eventually.The social media kept abuzz with few former cricketers and numerous fans expressed their opinions and displeasure over keeping two key players on the benches, especially just two months before the 50-over World Cup.
However, Kaif’s viewpoint is quite clear that this is the time to show your support to the Indian team instead of pinning them down.
“Small request for cricket fans: Don’t write off Indian team. Show unity, don’t be divided by your individual choice of players. Rohit and Dravid have played big tournaments without stars like Bumrah. World Cup is coming home, the boys need your support,” Kaif, player-turned-commentator, posted on Twitter.

Recently veteran India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also came out in support of skipper Rohit Shama and head coach Rahul Dravid, stating that the critics were merely finding faults for the sake of it.
The senior spinner said victory cannot be taken for granted in international cricket.
“Some (people) were shocked because we lost to a team that didn’t qualify for the World Cup. Many people think that India’s only job in international cricket is to win the World Cup. People think India are favourites to win the World Cup because of the IPL,” Ashwin said.

The ICC World Cup 2023 will be held in India across October and November and Ashwin appealed to fans to support the team, and stay away from negativity.
“Winning a world cup is not easy…just because we play a certain player or drop a certain player, we can’t win. All of us are hindsight kings. Hindsight doesn’t work here.”
“We have qualified for the semifinals of almost all major tournaments but on that day, we have not been good enough. Let us send them (to the WC) with a lot of positivity,” he said.