Team India are on the verge of a humiliating exit from the 2021 T20 World Cup after comprehensively losing both their opening encounters against New Zealand and Pakistan. The Men in Blue have hit just six sixes and picked up only two wickets in the first two games of the competition, and here are three reasons why Virat Kohli’s side have struggled at this T20 World Cup.
1. Strategy Confusion
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In Tests, India are the best team in the world because they have a clear identity under Virat Kohli with every player buying into his aggressive brand of cricket. The same can’t be said about India’s T20 philosophy, which has lacked clarity in recent times and suffered from inconsistency in batting roles and selection.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli opened the innings for India in their final T20I before the World Cup in March, but against New Zealand, they came in at number three and four with Ishan Kishan promoted to the top order. This resulted in a batting lineup that was characterized by tentative stroke play and indecision, with India failing to score a boundary for ten overs after the powerplay and each of the top four caught in the deep against the Kiwis.
2. Death By Spin
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Indians have long been considered as excellent players of spin, but so far in the competition, the batters have been bogged down by the opposition spinners. All three Pakistani spinners had an economy rate of 6 or below, and against New Zealand, the Men in Blue failed to even hit a single boundary against Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner– who went for only 32 runs in their eight overs.
India have also failed to manage their matchups wisely, with Jadeja promoted above the more dangerous batter Hardik Pandya against Pakistan and both Sodhi and Santner bowling almost exclusively to India’s right-handers on Sunday.
3. Ineffective Bowling
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While India’s batting has been incredibly disappointing in the opening two matches, the bowlers have also been equally ineffective, picking up just two wickets in 40 overs. While they were defending low scores in both matches, the bowlers continued to miss their lengths and bowl drag downs while failing to successfully utilize the longer boundary in Dubai.
Predictably, Bumrah has been the only bowler who has looked threatening with two wickets at an economy of 5.8, while the rest have gone wicketless in 25 overs at an economy of over 8.5.
Mathematically, India still live to fight another day in this tournament, but given the performances so far against Pakistan and New Zealand, even a miracle won’t be enough to give Virat Kohli’s T20I captaincy career the perfect swansong.
[Featured Image Credit: Indian Cricket Team]
Shivaan Shah