India haven’t won an ICC tournament for close to a decade now. Their last ICC triumph was in the 2013 Champions Trophy under MS Dhoni in England. They have come close a few times – they lost in the 2014 T20 World Cup final to Sri Lanka, they were beaten by Pakistan in the 2017 Champions Trophy final and came second to New Zealand in the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) final in 2019. In between they made the semi-final in the 2015 ODI World Cup, the 2016 T20 World Cup, the 2019 ODI World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup. Their most disappointing outing was in the 2021 T20 World Cup in UAE, where they could not make it to the final four.
India’s performance overall hasn’t been bad, to be honest, but the lack of trophies has attracted severe criticism for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Their teammate and all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin doesn’t agree with the narrative. India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket believes winning an ICC tournament should not be the only parameter to judge a player and if it is then at least they should be given time.
Ashwin gave the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s example and said the great man needed six attempts to realise his dream of lifting a World Cup.
“It’s easy to say you haven’t won this and so on. After the 1983 World Cup, the great Sachin Tendulkar played the 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, and 2007 World Cups. He finally won the World Cup in 2011. He had to wait for 6 World Cups to finally win one,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
The ace all-rounder also talked about MS Dhoni, who had won the T20 World Cup and the ODI World Cup in his first attempt as the captain of the Indian side.
“Just because another stalwart MS Dhoni came and won a World Cup as soon as he took charge, doesn’t mean it’ll happen to everyone, right?”
Ashwin urged the fans to give time to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. “These players (Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli), didn’t play in 2007. Rohit Sharma missed out on the 2011 World Cup. Only Kohli played in 2011, 2015, 2019 and now he will play his fourth World Cup in 2023. ‘He hasn’t won an ICC tournament’ they say. He has won it in 2011, he has won the 2013 Champions Trophy. Rohit Sharma has also won the 2013 Champions Trophy. So, we can give them space guys. They are playing bilaterals, IPL, and so many other matches. When it comes to ICC tournaments, you need those crucial moments to go your way,” he said.
