"No Member Of Team Can Say He's A Certainty...": Sunil Gavaskar On India's Bench Strength In White-Ball Cricket

Legendary Sunil Gavaskar said "no member" of this Indian side can claim to be a certainty as there are multiple youngsters breathing down their neck.

With 10 wins on the bounce in T20Is, India are currently flexing their muscle for the ICC T20 World Cup slated to take place in Australia later this year. Under new skipper Rohit Sharma, India have whitewashed New Zealand, West Indies and have already taken a 1-0 lead in the ongoing T20I series against Sri Lanka. The fact that India have displayed such dominating performance in the shortest format of the game despite missing some of their first-XI players due to various reasons, speaks volumes about the depth in their side. Stressing on that fact, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar said “no member” of this Indian side can claim to be a certainty as there are multiple youngsters breathing down their neck.

“These are really exciting times for Indian cricket. I use the word exciting because the amount of talent that is on show and the way they're saying 'consider me. Take me in the squad'...

“That means the guys who are settled will not be complacent. No member of this team can say to himself that he's a certainty because there's someone at the back chasing. That's the best thing to have for any team and for India to have that is a huge plus,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports after India defeated Sri Lanka by 62 runs in the series opener in Lucknow.

India are without the likes of Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant in these Sri Lanka T20Is, both taking time off before the two-match Test series. The team is also missing Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul's services due to injuries. In the limited-overs series against West Indies, in which India won all six matches – three ODIs and three T20Is – India were without Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.

But Ishan Kishan, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer, Harshal Patel, Ravi Bishnoi have done a tremendous job in not letting the team feel the star players' absence.