This is why we won the World Cup in ‘07 and ’11 – Suresh Raina

In a recent interaction with the Indian Express, former Indian cricket player Suresh Raina compared the M.S Dhoni-led team and the current Indian squad and explained why according to him the current team wasn’t able to do well in the recent T20 World Cup.

He told that the number of good batsmen who can bowl as well as the key difference when they won the 2007 and 2011 World Cups with India. He gave the example of Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, etc.

He said “I think this is why we were successful in the 2007 World T20, the 2011 World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy. When I started playing the Ranji Trophy, our coach Gyanu bhai (Gyanendra Pandey), would always tell us, ‘you should bowl.’ It gives a captain a choice to get a few overs from non-regular bowlers.”

“So you see Viru paa (Sehwag), Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, and me could bowl,” he added.

He wants players like Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav to contribute with the ball.

“We lost in the 2017 Champions Trophy and in the 2021 T20 World Cup because we didn’t have a sixth bowling option. Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav can roll their arms over,” he said.

He urged the batters to contribute with the ball as well. “Batsmen should also work on their bowling and once you start liking it, you will always like to bowl in the match.”