The beacon is passing slowly: Deep Dasgupta on future of Indian cricket amidst 2023 World Cup
Former Indian wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta opened up on Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj gaining the top spot in the latest ICC ODI rankings among batters and bowlers respectively.
Both Gill and Siraj still have several years of competitive cricket ahead of them. Hence, Dasgupta reckons these are just signs of Indian cricket enjoying a successful period shortly as well.
Speaking to Star Sports, Deep Dasgupta explained how these milestones from Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj indicate the beginning of a new era in Indian cricket. He said:
“Yes, it’s absolutely very good news and we are very happy with these rankings.
"The most important thing about this, is these lads are next generation players like in batting Shubman Gill who will be the next generation batter of Team India is number one right now."
He added:
"Similarly Mohammed Siraj who is the number one in bowling right now will be India’s next generation pacer. So, it’s quite visible that the beacon is passing slowly in that direction and our future cricket is in absolute safe hands.”
The Men in Blue will face The Netherlands in Bengaluru on Sunday (November 12) in their final league game of the 2023 ODI World Cup. While that game is a potential dead rubber for the hosts, Deep Dasgupta feels they should go into that game unchanged. He added:
“I wouldn’t want to see any changes because I am against making unnecessary changes. Even in Asia Cup during the last league match against Bangladesh, my opinion was the same, that we didn’t need changes.
"Because when unnecessary changes are made it can mess the team balance, and I believe if something’s not broken it doesn’t not need fixing.”
Deep Dasgupta on India's team environment
Deep Dasgupta believes one of the major reasons for the hosts' dominance in the ongoing World Cup is the incredible team atmosphere that the senior players have built.
He gave the example of Mohammed Shami and how the latter seamlessly made the playing XI despite not playing the first four games. He said:
"This team has senior players who are very secure, be it Rohit, Virat or Shami. Shami did not even get the opportunity to play the first few games, but he’s so secure that he’s not shown it in his attitude or mannerisms that he was disappointed that he’s not playing, he always looks at himself as mentor be it for Siraj or Prasidh Krishna.”
The Men in Blue are likely to face New Zealand in the 2023 World Cup semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium on November 15.