‘You call yourselves World Champions?’: Savage Ravi Shastri brutally roasts England after India World Cup thrashing
Following yet another defeat at the 2023 World Cup, this time to India by 100 runs which has all but put paid to their campaign, England continue to be at the receiving end of some heavy criticism, but none more savage than the one Ravi Shastri dished out on air. England were all over their chase of 229, getting reduced to 98/8 before eventually capitulating for 129. The likes of Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton reaffirmed their opinions that Jos Buttler and his men have are mentally out of it, while former World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan sensed that the string of defeats has had a detrimental impact on the morale and atmosphere within the dressing room. However, Shastri took his critique of the Three Lions to another level by challenging their status as the current World Champions.
Ravi Shastri did not hold back.(Getty Images)
Barring a win against Bangladesh, all five of England’s defeats are heavily one-sided. New Zealand hammered them by 9 wickets in the tournament opener, Afghanistan stunned them by 69 runs, South Africa annihilated them by 229 runs and Sri Lanka outplayed them by eight wickets. Such results are extremely unbecoming of the reigning world champions with Shastri siding with the public backlash back home in the UK. The former India coach believes England should take accountability of this performance and be gutted about the same.
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“England should be devastated – spectators, supporters. Because the first match which they lost, 17 overs were left in the game when New Zealand beat them. Against South Africa, they got all out in 20 overs. That game ended early. Then they were all out in 30 overs against Sri Lanka, where SL chased the target and finished the match in 25 overs. Today, they had lost 8 wickets inside 32 overs. You call yourselves World Champions? It means, if they aren’t sad over their performance, who will?” Shastri said while commentary before dishing out another gem, “If someone asks what is the difference between India and England, it is of 8 teams”.
England in danger of missing out on Champions Trophy
A fourth straight defeat has landed England right at the bottom of the pile, even a run below Bangladesh at 10 with their net run rate reading an abysmal -1.652. They have games left against Australia, the Netherlands and Pakistan and England would want to win these for two primary reasons. Pride and for the Champions Trophy qualification. As revealed during last evening’s game, the top 8 teams in this World Cup will earn a spot in the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan. This means that if England’s troubles persist, they may miss out on the tournament in two years.
“From here on, England will have to play for pride. The reason I am saying that is because right now they are at the bottom of the points table. And in the Champions Trophy which takes place in 2025, only the top 8 teams of the World Cup can qualify. So if England remain in the bottom two, imagine a team like them not playing an ICC tournament as big as the CT would be a huge blow,” added Shastri.
