World Cup 2019: 3 areas where the 2011 Indian squad had an edge over 2019 Indian squad
With the conclusion of the Indian General Elections 2019, all eyes will now be set towards the much-awaited ICC World Cup 2019. The Indian Elections saw plenty of fire and fury from supporters that spanned across different party lines, but the World Cup will unite the country to cheer for the ‘Men in Blue’. It is rightly said that cricket and politics are two religions in India and 2019 is providing the best of both for the Indian public. The Indian Premier League was followed by the results of the elections which will now be followed by the World Cup. Indians surely have a lot to keep themselves occupied this summer.
The Indian team were victorious in 2011 at home and that beautiful memory is enshrined in the heart of every Indian cricket fan. Whether it was the victory over arch-rivals Pakistan, the nail-biting Yuvraj-Raina partnership against Australia in the quarter-finals, or the six over long on by Dhoni at the Wankhede Stadium to win the trophy, that tournament was truly a gem every Indian was lucky to witness. The 2011 Indian team had a unique mix of youth and experience and it will be interesting to compare the composition of the 2011 squad to the 2019 squad.
Maturity in captaincy
The victorious 2011 squad was captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni who already had some prestigious trophies under his belt before he led the 2011 squad. He had won the 2007 World T20 in South Africa and the Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia in 2008.
While the 2007 World T20 squad consisted of younger and largely inexperienced players such as Robin Uthappa, S Sreesanth, and Rohit Sharma, some of the other teams Dhoni had captained such as the Indian Test team in 2008-09 consisted of players like VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, and Sachin Tendulkar. Before Dhoni stepped into the 2011 World Cup, he had tasted success while captaining teams with different skills sets and experience levels which gave him an edge while mixing and matching different combinations of youth and experience at the 2011 tournament.
Even though Virat Kohli has not had a lot of time on the captain’s seat and it is premature to compare his captaincy to Dhoni’s captaincy, it can be said that Kohli's captaincy is largely inexperienced and unexposed and that may make a difference. Kohli does not have a lot of experience captaining India in big tournaments. His only experience yet is the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 and the humiliating defeat to Pakistan in the final might still play on his mind. In contrast, Dhoni had captained India in 3 ICC World T20s and 1 ICC Champions Trophy before the 2011 World Cup. It will be interesting to see how Kohli reacts under pressure on the big stage and when things don’t go right for the team.
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