What went wrong for us in T20 World Cup?

 

What went wrong for us in World Cup?

 

We certainly believe that, it was always the pressure of knockouts and big games cost us in last 9 or 10 years. With having an excellent team in these years, we were unable to get pass that hurdle. It feels more like an embarrassment, than failure or heartbreaks. Apart from that big match failure or choking, another big aspect to this event is lack of planning, which is sometimes get unnoticed.

 

If we particularly think of this year’s World Cup, then we can find, there were lack of proper planning, though our team management made us feel like we were fully prepared. Here are few points which could be questioned on our pre-WC planning.

 

 

1.   First one is the so called approach and template.

 

Ø A lot of talk were made around the aggressive approach and template post last year’s WC. But eventually, lacked it in most important point in this WC, where both our openers failed in terms of runs and approach also. Our starts in this WC had been below par than other teams in Super 12s. We even couldn’t put a single partnership of 50 in 6 games and every time lost 1 or more wickets inside first 6 overs.

 

Ø While most of the times Rohit and Rahul batted in these games. Rahul does have some scores but his intent and approach was questionable and if we talk about Rohit, stats says he was better with previous approach. That is enough to say this so called approach has significantly affected our top order batters in terms of their form and scoring.

 

2.   The Confusion of DK or Pant.

 

Ø The point no 2 is, the dilemma between DK and Pant. It is very difficult as a hardcore fan and a general viewer to understand, what exactly team did with this event. After giving over 50 to 60 games to Pant, the team management is still not showing confidence in him. And in case of Pant, it seems that he is still uncertain about his role in that batting line up.

 

Ø While with DK, the first thing that comes to mind is, why DK was chosen over someone like Ishan Kishan or Sanju Samson? Do we really wanted to go ahead or go backward? Yes there were some exceptional performance given by him in this year’s IPL at RCB on which basis he got picked as a particular finisher role. But there is no logic just using him at last two or three overs and sending Axar over him regularly.

 

Ø Another question is, if you gave him that role then you should have persist with him for longer period of time and constantly in Asia Cup and World Cup. And also utilizing him in up the order i.e before 14^th, 15^th over could have been helped in team’s cause. DK started in both Asia Cup & WC, but in middle of the tournament we changed him with Pant.

 

Ø Our management totally meshed-up the case between DK and Pant. At the end when our campaign was over, we are still thinking, what was exactly we have done with both these players. DK’s carrier is almost over now, without making some impact for which he was given this chance and Pant’s case is still a mystery.

 

3.   Not picked performers.

 

Ø Players like Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, and Yuzi Chahal played throughout the whole year in preparation to this WC, but when the time came they were ignored. Umesh and Shami came after Asia Cup from nowhere to fill the absence for Bumrah. And when the other teams prepared their attacking wrist spinners, we went back to our safety first approach.

 

Ø We picked Axar as a replacement for Jadeja which was understandable, but picking Ashwin over Bishnoi was bit surprising. In the whole WC, Ashwin played over Yuzi just because of we needed a bowler who can give some batting depth lower down the order. It gave us few results also but eventually that backfired to us in crucial stage.

 

Ø Yuzi Chahal is currently among the best wicket takers in this format for not just India but also in the whole World. But the fact that he was dropped from the WC squad last year and totally benched in this year’s WC, which is even worse, is a lesson for us to learn and shame for our cricket.

 

4.   We had no Back-up plan for bowling.

 

Ø We had come to this WC without our two key bowlers, Bumrah & Jadeja, but still we had a decent bowling unit with Bhuvi, Arshdeep, Harshal, Shami, Hardik, Ashwin, Yuzi and Axar. We started with Bhuvi, Arshdeep, Shami, Hardik as our top 4 bowlers and Axar, Ashwin as our 5^th bowler considering Australian pitches. Adding to that both our spinners were handy with the bat also.

 

Ø In these conditions, with different ground and boundary dimensions it was always about the thing to adapt the conditions and surfaces. Out of 6 games we played twice at MCG, twice at Adelaide Oval and once each at Sydney & Perth. Out of these venues only Adelaide Oval was challenging for the bowlers as it has no assistance from the pitch (Seam, Swing or Turn), with small square boundaries.

 

Ø Our bowlers did pretty well in other grounds particularly with the new ball. Although our spinners had a less impact in these games. But both the times we played in Adelaide our bowers were thrashed in power plays. While in game against Bangladesh, rain and poor stroke making from their side gave the result in favor of us but in the Semi-finals we were clue less against England’s opener. In hind-side we might thought now if we had picked Yuzi in this match then result could have been in our favor.

 

So, in total these are might be the cases which can be introspected. But now there is no value for this, as we have got another heartbreak. For team management it could be just a bad game but in reality this has been the case for last 10 years. We are regularly choking in these big games since 2014 and fans might be broken with it.

 

There is certainly need for some changes in the team now. If the result is not coming with same set of players for a long period of time then it would be better to bring some new faces and let them perform & try their luck. With the ODI WC and Test Championship scheduled in next year, so the senior players should now focus on that and with the next T20 WC is in 2024, a new fresh start should happen.