'Remove The Ranking': Gautam Gambhir's Straightforward Message To Team India Ahead Of WC 2023

While speaking in a special show of Star Sports 'Mission World Cup', the former India legend Gambhir pointed out the importance of defeating Australia in the tournament.

Gambhir feels India need to defeat Australia if they want to win the World Cup.

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The Indian team has now sealed the top ranking in the world in all formats but for former India player Gautam Gambhir, it does not matter much. According to Gambhir, if India wants to win the upcoming World Cup 2023, they need to defeat Australia as they have an outstanding performance history in ICC events. Being the most successful team, Australia is one of the favourites to win the high-octane event. However, Gambhir is hopeful that the Men in Blue will perform well and can get the better of them.

While speaking in a special show of Star Sports 'Mission World Cup', the former India legend Gambhir pointed out the importance of defeating Australia in the tournament.

"Look, I have always said this, and there is no doubt in this, that if you want to win the World Cup, then you have to beat Australia. In 2007 when we won the World Cup, we defeated Australia in the semifinal. In 2011 when we won the World Cup, we beat Australia in the quarterfinal. Australia is the strongest team in any ICC tournament. Remove the ranking, the ranking does not matter," he added.

Talking about the World Cup records, Australia has sealed the World Cup trophy five times while West Indies and India are following them as the World Cup winners’.  Both the teams have clinched the title twice and the defending champions are England as they won the World Cup back in 2019.

"You can be in any position in the rankings, but Australia, when it comes to those big tournaments, the World Cups, I think Australia has got the players, they have got the self-belief, Australia has the ability to play those big moments really well. And you can see this, the two World Cups that India won, we had to beat Australia in the knockout stage two times. And the World Cups that we have lost, in 2015 we lost to Australia. So I believe that if we have to win the World Cup this year, Australia is going to be the most important game, and we start against Australia, so there is nothing better than that. So beating Australia is very, very important," Gambhir further said.