London: Various factors contributed to India’s loss against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final. These factors were visible to all, but got glossed over due to the overwhelming positives that were perceived as making the Indian team invincible.
New Zealand in semis: While the team-related weaknesses were exposed during the league stage, the unexpected emergence of this small country as the opponent only aided in not addressing these weaknesses. There would have been the mandatory strategy meetings and analysis of the opposition, but no member of the contingent would have attached the kind of seriousness needed for a semifinal match if it was against England, or defending champions Australia.
Strategy paralysis: While many scenarios would have been mapped, one where the top three batsmen scored just one run each, putting the team in a precarious situation, could not have been imagined by anyone. And that these would include Rohit Sharma, with a record-breaking five centuries in CWC19, and Virat Kohli, captain and probably the best batsman in the world now. Here is where it was required for the team management to quickly rework all the strategies and put forward a clear path towards achieving the target.
Pant & Pandya: Once Dinesh Karthik returned to the pavilion and the score read 24/4 with 40 more overs to go and an inexperienced Rishabh Pant at one end, there would not be any cricketer or analyst worth his salt who would have not pointed out that Dhoni had to go in to hold up one end and also guide the non-strikers through to victory.
Instead, in came Hardik Pandya, a very talented player, but someone who didn’t have the experience for the situation at hand.
In fact, the team think-tank had just to emulate how the Kiwi captain, Kane Williamson, and their No.4 batsman, Ross Taylor, stitched together a 65-run partnership eating up 17 overs for it with a run-rate of under 4.
Hitman: The vice-captain, Rohit Sharma, had a dream run with the bat in CWC19. He became the first batsman to score five centuries in a single World Cup and became the tournament’s leading scorer. However, he was also dropped the maximum number of times before he even touched double figures.
In fact, the talk became that you drop Rohit and he will go on to make a century. Nobody spoke that if the catches were taken, most of them sitters, he would not have crossed a total of 100 runs. Well, the Kiwis didn’t drop the chance they got. And when Kohli joined him soon after, it was panic mode.
No.4 man: One of the biggest mysteries associated with world cricket, unsolved for reasons unknown, is that a country which has a problem of plenty as far as world-class batsmen are concerned, can’t find a No.4 player. While the selectors could go back to the problem after the World Cup, it is surprising that nobody considered Dhoni as the ideal man for the job. (IANS)
