by Deepanshu Srivastava 

Team India landed in UAE for the T20 cricket world cup 2021 as one of the toughest contenders for the cup under the captaincy of Virat Kohli and with a squad of 15 promising cricketers, legendary chief coach Ravi Shastri and cricketing icon MS Dhoni as the mentor of the team.

India played its first match with Pakistan on October 24. As well -known,  the match between teams India and Pakistan is played not only by these two teams but the entire cricket-crazy populace from the two countries also watch the match glued to their TV sets with jumpy breath. India’s second match was scheduled against New Zealand (Kiwis) on October 31. Prior to these two matches, India defeated two mighty teams – England and Australia in the warming-up matches. However, due to a number of factors that we will discuss later in this article, India was beaten mercilessly by both Pakistan and Kiwis. The defeats were not only shameful for a strong team like India but it almost shut the door for team India to enter the semi-finals of the tournament. Although some cricket pundits are of the view that India might get entry into semi-finals by a few permutations and combinations, whose discussion will be out of place for this article.

After the two stunning defeats of team India, the Indian cricket lovers celebrated team India’s comfortable win over Afghanistan and Scotland with a washed-out smile on their faces. India also improved its net run rate (NRR) marginally after the two wins.

JAB TEAM INDIA MET TEAM PAKISTAN – Including this match India has played six T 20 cricket tournaments for the world cup with Pakistan. Except for this match, India has emerged victorious in all five matches. The first encounter was at Johannesburg in 2007, which India won by 5 runs. In the second encounter which was a day-night match at the Oval in 2009, India won by9 wickets with 18 balls remaining. In the third match held at Colombo in 2012, India won by 8 wickets with 18balls remaining. In the fourth match held at Dhaka in 2014, India won by 7 wickets with 9 balls remaining. The fifth match held at Kolkata in 2016 was also won by India by 6 wickets with 13 balls remaining. In the latest sixth encounter held at Dubai, India lost poorly by all the 10 wickets with 13balls remaining. This was the biggest record- defeat of Team  India in any world cup fixtures. Pakistan’s young speedster Shaheen Afridi broke the nerves of the Indian batting lineup by sending Indian star batters Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli back to the pavilion by giving away just 31runs. The fall of wickets of Sharma and Rahul in the early overs of the match was enough to demoralize the rest of the Indian batters. The two balls of Afridi on which Sharma and Rahul went out were worth watching. In fact, the duo could not understand at all the stunning deliveries which got them out. The sole effort of Kohli from one end was not enough as from the other end Indian batters kept falling like playing cards. In Pakistan’s Innings, Indian star seamers Md. Shami and B. Kumar were beaten so badly that most of the spectators left the stands for their homes. It was an outright victory of Team Pakistan when Pakistan’s opening pair of Md. Rizwan and Baber Azam outplayed Indian bowling and fielding. Team Pakistan’s performance has been really praise-worthy.

JAB TEAM INDIA MET TEAM NEW ZEALAND – Prior to this world cup, the teams India and New Zealand have met twice in the T20 cricket world cup. India could not defeat the Kiwis in either of the two matches. In the inaugural edition of the T20 cricket world cup held in South Africa in 2007, Kiwis was the only team that defeated India in spite that India won the world cup. In the 2016 clash between the two countries held in India, New Zealand scored 126 runs and in its reply, Indian batting had collapsed for just 79 runs after losing all the wickets. In the ongoing world cup, India showed a pathetic display of their batting and could score only 110 runs for 7 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Replying to this small score, the NZ batters comfortably reached the target in just 14.3 overs by scoring 111runs with only 2 wickets loss. India lost the match by 8 wickets with 33balls remaining.

Victory and defeat are parts of any sporting event but losing matches the way India lost by surrendering itself in front of the opponent was unjustified. There seems to be a number of factors for India’s disappointing performance in this world cup. Some of them have been poor team selection, dependency on the IPL -brand of Indian cricketers like Yadav, Kishen, Pant, and meddling with the batting orders. Players selected for the national team from IPL need to be taught the basics of batting for playing in international matches. They should be categorically counseled and told the difference between standards of IPL and international tournaments. IPL is for amusement and entertainment while matches such as the world cups are played for national pride. BCCI also behaved strangely by announcing a new chief coach for team India and starting the process of IPL auction for the year 2022 while the world cup is still on. The two announcements could have been delayed till the end of the world cup.

The time has come that a robust training camp is organised for young cricketers selected for the national team before the commencement of such tournaments. Restrictions should also be imposed on the senior cricketers on their shooting schedule of the endorsements at least before 2 months of such matches. Corporate culture needs to be brought into sports also starting with cricket. After all, the cricketers are paid so handsomely for such matches and the money, of course, comes indirectly from poor tax payer’s pockets.

About the Author:

An interpretative journalist by profession, Deepanshu Srivastava is a sports and fiction writer from Pune. He may be reached through [email protected]