T20 World Cup 2021: The fault in Team India's stars
When Team India sent Ishan Kishan to open the batting against New Zealand, I was pleasantly surprised. Here was a promising young man given an opportunity against one of the top sides in the tournament in a virtual must-win game at a prestigious tournament.
It is not always that Virat Kohli and co experiment at such a moment. Not only that, but it also meant KL Rahul would move down to No.4. That subsequently meant there would be added stability in the team's middle order. Additionally, it meant Rohit Sharma would allow Kishan to be the aggressive partner before accelerating himself once he got his eye in. On paper, it looked like the perfect plan.
But wait..the other opener who walked out with Kishan was not Rohit Sharma but KL Rahul. That now meant Sharma would bat at two down, which was not ideal because he is not the quickest between the wickets, and the middle overs is where the running between the wickets matters the most.
However, in his defence, Rohit Sharma is arguably the cleanest striker of the ball in the team. So who better than him to make use of a good platform set by the openers and take India beyond the par score? It was not the most perfect plan, but certainly seemed practical.
Team India's game plan goes haywire against disciplined New Zealand
Team India's game plan soon floundered when Ishan Kishan fell to a characteristic shot, a flick to deep backward square leg, who was placed to pinpoint precision. It was a perfect trap laid for that very shot.
But out walked Rohit Sharma instead of Virat Kohli, arguably one of the greatest-ever No.3 players in the history of limited-overs cricket, against one of the top sides in the tournament in a virtual must-win game at a prestigious tournament.
And what did Rohit Sharma do off his first ball, his second of the tournament after getting out to a peach of a delivery first ball in his last game against Pakistan? He got a short ball, and the compulsive hooker/puller unleashed the pull.
Sharma did so fully knowing that there was a fielder positioned at fine leg - a perfect trap for that very shot. To his good fortune, the catch was dropped, but Sharma couldn't capitalise on that.
Eventually, Kohli came out at No.4 after KL Rahul fell in the same manner as Ishan Kishan, holing out to deep backward square. That was another signature shot that the Kiwis had meticulously planned for. You start to see a pattern here?
There is no doubt the Team India contingent is as talented as any squad we have sent to any previous T20 World Cups. Maybe even more so, considering the squad depth everyone was gushing about just a few days earlier. But that is the problem, isn't it?
A tournament is a whole different game. Squad depth doesn't mean squat when everyone is afforded the same maximum number of players - 15.
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It doesn't even mean you need to have 15 excellent players because 11 would do, while the four others can just make up the numbers.
What went wrong for Team India against New Zealand?
Beyond squad depth, what matters more is team selection, though. Team India fumbled on that front in the first game, something that has been discussed and dissected at length.
To their credit, Team India did make changes for the New Zealand game. Suryakumar Yadav was forced out with an injury, which made way for Ishan Kishan, while Shardul Thakur took Bhuvneshwar Kumar's place.
However, new problems arose, which were exacerbated by the solutions India opted to combat them. Remember when Kohli said he wanted to open the batting?
"Yes. I am going to open in the IPL as well," Kohli told Star Sports at the presentation after India sealed a 36-run win to take the series 3-2. "Look, I've batted at different positions in the past, but I feel like we do have a very solid middle order now, and now it's about your two best players getting the maximum number of balls in T20 cricket. So I would definitely like to partner Rohit at the top."
The Team India captain continued:
"As I rightly said, if we have a partnership, and we both are set, then you know that one of us is going to cause some serious damage. That's exactly what we want. And the other guys feel much more confident when one of us is still in and set, they know that they can play more freely. It augurs well for the team, and I would like this to continue, and hopefully continue that form through to the World Cup."
But he immediately backtracked on that statement after the end of IPL 2021, saying:
"Things were different before IPL started, and now KL Rahul is playing the way he is; so it's very hard to look past him at the top of the order. Rohit is a no-brainer. He has been a world-class player right at the top of the order for us. I will be batting at three."
So, with Ishan Kishan in the team, India were left with four potential openers in the top four. Only one of them was a pure No.3 batter, though, the sole position they should not have tampered with. But they did, and we all know how that went.
#India were undone by #NewZealand's spin, while Hamid Hassan beat all the odds in a heroic return for #Afghanistan.
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Eventually, it was a collective batting failure from India and a collective bowling failure too. That was made worse by the fact that their captain cannot win a toss to save his life (albeit I don't know how that is a problem we cannot solve).
However, losing the toss shouldn't have meant immediate doom. Champion sides should be able to compensate losing tosses by scoring more runs. But Team India proved that they were not that champion side on the day.
Moreover, Team India have been bogged down by their stars making key mistakes in the most important of moments, something that is not new - Sachin Tendulkar at the 2003 CWC final, anyone? When we have won tournaments in the past, it was because of fail-safes, and even that failed against New Zealand on Sunday.
Of course, people will panic and say that Team India players play only for the money. The IPL is to blame for all this, and we should ban the tournament so we can concentrate on the 'real' tournaments... and all that nonsense. But remind yourself of Hanlon's razor:
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
India lost because New Zealand played better cricket, and their best players did not. India lost because their team selection was poor on the day.
India lost because they did not find themselves in a position to play in the best conditions. This tournament should not be a death knell, but it should be a wake-up call as India's semi-final hopes hang by a proverbial thread.