Head coach Gautam Gambhir said that he wanted India to play an ‘aggressive brand’ of cricket in ODIs, carrying their momentum from T20Is. On Sunday, February 2, India hammered England by 150 runs at the Wankhede Stadium to win the five-match T20I series 4-1. After setting the Three Lions a colossal target of 248 to chase down, India bowled their opponents out for 97 in 10.3 overs.
After dominating the shortest format of the game, Gambhir laid down the marker for the Indian team in ODIs before the Champions Trophy, scheduled to start on February 19. Gambhir, who was a part of India’s historic 2011 World Cup triumph, said that the Men in Blue wanted to ‘entertain’ the crowd regardless of the format they played in.
“Just try and play as aggressively as we can. I think that we want to entertain the crowd. We want to entertain, we want to play that high risk cricket,” Gambhir told the broadcasters after the match.
Before the Champions Trophy, India will also lock horns in a three-match ODI series against England. Last year, India played three ODIs, but could not win a single game. None of their players featured in the ICC’s ODI Team of the Year for 2024.
Gambhir also looked forward to welcoming Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma into the ODI setup after a long gap.
“We are now getting two quality players (Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma) back in who’ve got a phenomenal record in one-day cricket. Hopefully they can come in and deliver and probably try and be as aggressive and positive as they can,” Gambhir added.
India’s first ODI against England is on Thursday, February 6 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. Their first match in the Champions Trophy is against Bangladesh on February 20 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
