Virender Sehwag: ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 was played in India. Indian fans were hopeful that the blue jersey team would once again lift the ODI World Cup (World Cup 2023) trophy on home soil like in 2011. The performance of Team India further strengthened this dream of the fans. They entered the finals gracefully after achieving 10 consecutive wins in the entire tournament. But there they had to face defeat at the hands of Australia.

Indian team's former explosive opener Virender Sehwag has held Virat Kohli and KL Rahul responsible for India's defeat. He targeted both the players without taking names.

Virender Sehwag gave a big statement

Virender Sehwag, 45, analyzed India's defeat while reminiscing about the World Cup 2023 during a program organized by CNBC Awaaz. He strongly criticized the slow batting of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul after the dismissal of Rohit Sharma. Veeru said,

“If I look at the last final, in which India lost to Australia, none of the Indian batsmen played fearless cricket between 11 overs and 40 overs. Hit just one four. I can give my example that when I was a part of the team, from 2007-08 to the 2011 World Cup, we used to watch every match as if it was a knockout match, like the semi-finals of the World Cup. If we lose, we will be out. This is the reason why from 2007 to 2011 we won many tournaments continuously and thus prepared for the World Cup.”

“Maybe the current team can do this again by considering every match as a knockout match, if they lose they will be eliminated, in such a situation the mindset changes. I think this is the mindset needed in the dressing room. When you get into a knockout match, play fearless cricket, play with a little courage and take a little risk.”

This was the condition of the competition

In the final of the ODI World Cup 2023, Team India had a good start by batting first. In the power play they had scored 80 runs at the loss of 2 wickets. The biggest contribution in this was from captain Rohit Sharma, who played an inning of 47 runs in 31 balls with the help of 4 fours and 3 sixes. But after Rohit's dismissal, the hosts' innings became very slow.

Virat Kohli scored 54 runs on 63 balls, while KL Rahul scored 66 runs on 107 balls. Due to this, Team India could score only 240 runs on the score board after 50 overs, which Australia chased with 7 overs remaining.