India and England will play the final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, there are no two ways about it, said most of the experts in the lead-up to the showpiece event.
The Indian fans, after having suffered heartbreaks in multiple ICC knockouts of late, were also hopeful of Virat Kohli signing off from T20 International captaincy on a high. Two matches into the tournament, and things could not have looked bleaker.
While the following mitigating factors for India's shocking start to their T20 World Cup campaign might sound more like excuses (and there is no room for that in professional sport) there are some genuine reasons - for you have to try to reason for yourself if not for anyone else as to what really went wrong for a team full of stars - for the two one-sided losses.
Toss and Dew
Before the India-New Zealand clash in Dubai, teams batting second had won 14 of the 18 T20s played at the venue in 2021. The trend is more or less the same for Sharjah and Abu Dhabi as well.
While a team as strong as India, albeit fatigued, should back itself to win from any situation, with help from the toss or without it, the results have certainly been heavily and unfairly skewed in the favour of the chasing side.
As luck would have it, India got to chase in both their warm-up matches against England and Australia and won both of them resoundingly by 7 wickets and 8 wickets respectively. However, since the tournament proper began, they have had zero luck with the toss, with Pakistan and New Zealand making impressive use of the conducive conditions.
Losing the toss is a double whammy in the UAE during this time of the year. Not only the opposition bowlers have been able to extract maximum swing while bowling first, by the time the Indian bowlers have come on to bowl, their pacers have been unable to swing and seam the wet ball and their spinners have failed to get any purchase of the surface because of the dew setting in.
Just the day before India's shocking loss to New Zealand, Australia had met the same fate against England at the same venue, failing to cope with the disadvantage that comes with losing the toss and were bundled out for 125. India's collapse was even more dramatic as they limped to 110, effectively batting themselves out of the match, and the World Cup.
Scheduling
Having been in the business of cricket for some time, one understands why things are the way they are; why India get to play just two matches in 10 days in a World Cup and why Pakistan and England had already played three matches each when India sat itching with just one.
But, despite knowing the technicalities, the scheduling is unequivocally unfair on Virat Kohli & Co. One can understand that the broadcasters want nothing but the prime time slot for the Indian matches due to the millions of eyeballs on offer. That said, it is ridiculous that India played both their first two matches on Sunday night, a week apart.
When you have been thrashed in a high-octane encounter against arch-rivals Pakistan in your opening match, the last thing you want is to have an extended break and be tempted to overthink about your mistakes and keep going down that rabbit hole.
Despite all the positive spin that Virat Kohli tried to impart in the post-match press conference after the defeat against Pakistan, of the break helping them to gather themselves after a demanding IPL, the one-week gap after a shellacking against Pakistan was the worst thing that could have happened to India.
Different Pitches
While there has been all this talk around the Indian players getting accustomed to the conditions of the UAE because of the second leg of the IPL, it is worth noting that the pitches used during the IPL and the World Cup are completely different.
It is understandable on the part of the ICC, the Emirates Cricket Board and hosts BCCI to take such a decision in order to protect the sanctity of the showpiece event, but while the pitches throughout the IPL were sluggish, the surfaces during the WC have been a mixed bag across the three venues of the UAE.
Hence, getting a taste of the pitches during the IPL has come to naught for the Indian players in the World Cup.
Lack of Rhythm as a Unit
Another major factor for India's indifferent showing against Pakistan and New Zealand has been the lack of clarity of their roles because of not playing together as a team.
All the 15 players in the Indian squad were primed for the T20 World Cup with the IPL, but unless you play as a team, how can you understand your roles in the XI?
Amplified by the pandemic and the IPL getting postponed, India's T20 Internationals scheduled in the lead-up to the World Cup went out of the window and that has turned out to be a body blow for the Virat Kohli-led side.
All hope is not lost yet with there still being a chance for the team making it through to the semis. Those chances though are as realistic as Namibia beating India.
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