‘Don’t stumble anywhere once it comes to knock-out stages’ – Sunil Gavaskar’s bold verdict for Team India ahead of ODI World Cup 2023 clash vs Netherlands

Team India will be facing the Netherlands on November 12 in their ninth and last game of the league stage of the ODI World Cup 2023 at M. Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium in Bangalore. Notably, Rohit Sharma and Co. will end up in the top spot despite the win or the loss against the Scott Edwards-led Netherlands side, owing to their eight out of eight wins in the marquee event.

However, former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar shares valuable advice for the host team ahead of their upcoming clash. The well-renowned cricket commentator wants India to win their next clash against the Dutch team by a big margin to get a major boost ahead of the knockout games slated to take place on November 15.

“You want to be the champions, you want to make sure that you win big. You want to show that you are the best team in the competition by a long distance, and that’s exactly what the Indian team is doing at the moment. There is a match against the Netherlands which might be inconsequential because India is only now number one. But they don’t want to stumble anywhere once it comes to the knock-out stages,” Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports.

You want to get into that winning mentality: Sunil Gavaskar

The legendary cricketer explains that the mental attitude changes in the knockout stage as compared to the league stage. Moreover, the former India skipper reveals that in the league stage, one can depend on the next day to use the opportunity to get the win; however, one can’t have that chance in knockouts if someone has a bad day there.

“The whole temperament, your whole mental attitude towards the match will change because in the group stage you always think, Oh, there’s another match to come. But there is no next day if you have a bad day in the in the knockouts. So you want to get into that winning rhythm. You want to get into that winning mentality, and that’s what the Indian team is doing,” he added further.