T20 World Cup 2021: "It was an extremely disappointing campaign for Virat Kohli" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra has highlighted that the T20 World Cup 2021 has been an extremely disappointing campaign for Virat Kohli as Team India's skipper.
The Indian team's hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the global event were dashed when New Zealand defeated Afghanistan yesterday. The Virat Kohli-led side's last match against Namibia this evening is only of academic interest.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra pointed out that Virat Kohli's tenure as T20I captain has ended on a depressing note. He observed:
"This is where one story is ending. It is Virat Kohli's first and last T20 World Cup as captain, he will not be seen again as a captain in the shortest format. Virat and Ravi Shastri's pairing is also finishing here. It was an extremely disappointing campaign for Virat Kohli as a captain."
The former India cricketer added that the team's losses against Pakistan and New Zealand cannot be attributed to Virat Kohli losing the toss. Chopra reasoned:
"He didn't win the tosses but did you lose the matches because of that - no, that is not the truth. Good teams win matches despite losing tosses as South Africa showed us in Sharjah against England."
Virat Kohli: Winning the toss on my Birthday, we should have played the first match on my birthday 🤣 https://t.co/4F3qFIWub5
Virat Kohli has lost three of the four tosses in the tournament so far. Although the Indian bowlers might have been hampered somewhat by the dewy conditions in the second innings, the underwhelming totals posted by their batters against Pakistan and New Zealand didn't allow any pressure to be put on the opposition.
View the T20 World Cup 2021 prediction here.
"We were slightly cagey" - Aakash Chopra on the Virat Kohli-led side's approach
Aakash Chopra highlighted that the T20 World Cup 2021 could be Team India's worst performance at a global event in recent times. He said:
"We were timid in the beginning. We were slightly cagey, we were not playing in a fearless, carefree and bold fashion. What could be the reason for that, I don't know. This could actually go down as one of Team India's poorest World Cup campaigns."
The reputed commentator concluded by stating that Virat Kohli's side will be deeply hurt by their disappointing returns. Chopra elaborated:
"I am reminded of the 2007 World Cup. After that, there were one or two T20 World Cups where we didn't reach the semi-finals, but this is the first time in the last 7-8 years we have not done that. So, this is going to hurt really really badly."
So after 9 years and 6 succesive semi-final qualifications, India fail to qualify for the semi-finals of a ICC event. Haven’t played to potential and it will hurt the team a lot. Time to get the act right for next year’s world cup in Australia.
Team India last failed to reach the semi-finals of an ICC event at the 2012 T20 World Cup. They were pipped by Australia and Pakistan for a knockout stage berth based on net run rate on that occasion.