Mumbai: India's run has been derailed after two crushing defeats against arch rivals Pakistan and WTC winners New Zealand and the performance that they have put in is not worthy of a semi-final spot even though technically keeping their hopes alive.
Major reasons for the losses:
Captaincy:
The fall of leader Virat Kohli as Team India's skipper in the shortest format of the game seems pretty evident following poor results for the Men in Blue in their opening two games in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021 and the ICC events under Kohli as captain. Kohli lacked game sense and execution of plans. India in the opening two games could pick only 2 wickets both by Jasprit Bumrah.
Kohli as a captain looked clueless with no innovation in terms of containing runs or forcing false shots from the opposition batters. The opposition batters had free flowing runs with easy singles and odd boundaries. All in all Kohli as a captain is being exposed prominently in the recent times, Champions Trophy 2017 Final, World Cup 2019 Semi Final, WTC 2021 Final. Virat Kohli as captain has crumbled under pressure with his decision making.
Gambhir in a recent interview highlighted that the pressure on India and New Zealand was similar with regards to their position in the tournament as he argued that despite such a situation, Kiwi skipper Williamson's calmness had a more positive impact on his teammates than Kohli's enthusiasm had on Indian players.
"Kane doesn't react to everything but look at the calmness. Sometimes in these crunch games, it's your calmness that's much more important than probably your enthusiasm or reaction to everything," added Gambhir.
"You don't have to be on the face all the time. You don't have to show your emotions [always], sometimes just your positivity and calmness can be equally positive [for] the group as well. Just by reacting to everything doesn't mean that you are more passionate than someone else," Gambhir slammed Kohli.
Team Selections:
The most debatable topic for most cricket fans around the world with India's XI in both the games, Kohli's decision to play Hardik Pandya as a pure batsman proved to be a disaster. Hardik Pandya had not bowled a single over in IPL 2021, though his fitness was not assessed in the WT20 campaign. Hardik Pandya could only score 34 runs in 2 games at a strike rate of 106.25 in the death overs.
However Kohli's decision to not even consider him as an option is something that many in Indian cricket feel, "borders on stubbornness"
Not playing a proper leg spinner(Rahul Chahar) was a major setback as well, while other successful teams in the WT20 so far have played the likes of Adil Rashid(7), Rashid Khan(7), Adam Zampa(5), Wanindu Hasaranga(11) and had a major impact in the wickets column.
It is to be noted that Rohit is regarded by many as one of the best batsmen in white-ball cricket and it is likely that he would become the captain of India in T20I after current skipper Virat Kohli steps down at the end of T20 World Cup. On Sunday, Rohit was asked to bat at number three and Ishan Kishan was sent with KL Rahul to open the innings for India. Such experiments in a virtual knockout game was unexpected.
Rishabh Pant's selection in the team is highly questionable too, Rishabh Pant a flamboyant batsman in Test cricket is not the same Rishabh Pant in T20I cricket for India. Rishabh Pant's career T20I strike rate is even lesser than Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni who played in the middle order. Thus Rishabh Pant not living upto the tag of being an aggressive wicket keeper batsman dented India's chances in the middle overs
India's middle order is a highly discussed topic in the recent past, Indian team has always been blessed with flourishing top order batsman from Sachin, Sehwag, Ganguly to Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli.
Since the likes of Yuvraj, Dhoni, Raina disappeared India's middle order has always been a worrying fact leading into any major event. With Shreyas Iyer missing out of the 15 member squad after recovering from the shoulder injury Pant, Hardik, Kohli (at 4 vs NZ) struggled.
Interestingly Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli in the recently concluded IPL had a strike rate of 104 and 108 respectively in the middle overs.
No breakthroughs in the Powerplay:
India's seam bowling has struggled in the opening games, Shami and Bhuvneshwar looked pretty ordinary. The lone wicket taker in game against the Kiwi's Jasprit Bumrah bowled with execution and skills.
India clearly felt the need for a seamer who could swing the ball upfront in the powerplay and make in rows, Deepak Chahar was kept in the reserves and India clearly missed his services.
In the recent IPL, Deepak Chahar picked 14 wickets at 32.21 bowling mostly in the first 6 overs.
India's next WT20 clash is against Afghanistan with lots of experience playing in UAE with two world class spinners. This will be one match where if India wins, they wouldn't get any credit but if they lose, all hell will break loose.
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Rohit was sent at number 3 because India couldn't afford to lose him cheaply to the left hand pace of Trent Boult.Rohit's weakness against left arm pacers was exposed in the Pakistan match.He repeated the same mistake he did against Amir in 2016-2017.
ReplyDeleteAre you really one of the best batsmen in the world if the management has to shield you against world class bowlers?
ReplyDeleteIt was not shield and your thield. It was managements and mentors decision to send Ishan Rahul to open bcoz they can hit big shots from the ball 1
DeleteHey, that's great post you've shared. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteOne-Day International Cricket is one of the most popular formats with over a history of 50 years. So far more than 4000 ODIs have been playing along with 12 ODI World Cups. In Cricket, the Team captain plays a significant role from the team performance to all the decisions.
Most Successful ODI Captains in Cricket