Bengaluru Feb 11: Gautam Gambhir says he seeks inspiration and motivation from the ICC Cricket World Cup 1983 victory as India begin their campaign on home turf to regain the World Cup 26 years later.
The Indian team has been practicing in Bengaluru since Wednesday with the CWC 2011 all set to kick-off with a grand opening ceremony in Dhaka on February 17.
Speaking on this week’s ICC Cricket World Radio Show Gambhir said, “I definitely look to the 1983 World Cup win for inspiration as we want to get the World Cup back. We were pretty close to winning in 2003 and hopefully we can turn it around and win this time in India”.
The young batsman, who has been opening for India in ODIs in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, will play a key role in the team’s fortunes. Named ICC’s Test player of 2009, Gambhir is equally effective in the other formats of the game as well and capable of playing any role assigned to him. He can either be aggressive or play an anchoring role as per the situation.
In view of India’s status in world cricket today the batsman said, “There’s a lot of pressure on us but hopefully if we can continue to perform as we have done over the last year-and-a-half in both the Test and 50-over format, we can be in the right frame of mind to win the 50-over World Cup.”
Indiawill be hoping to carry their good form forward and begin the tournament with a win against Bangladesh in the first match to be played at Mirpur on February 19.
