T20

Reboot, and Restart!

A zillion plus cricket fans in India hoped against the hope of Afghanistan defeating the Kiwis. But as it so happened, Kane & Co. rather comfortably, and much deservedly so, made it to the final four of the tournament bringing curtains down on India’s campaign, rendering its last match against Namibia inconsequential.

Looking back on the four matches played by the Indian team thus far in the tournament, they have no one else but themselves to blame for the early exit. They have failed to be consistent which ultimately resulted in them depending on other results in order for them to qualify. The losses in the opening games versus Pakistan and New Zealand hurt India’s chances tremendously, virtually knocking them out inside the first week unless some other results went in their favor. In this format of the game, there are no clear favorites as such, since any team on their day can beat the best team going around purely because you only have to be that much better for only that period of time. Having said that, there is no denying the fact that India made errors, both tactically and in terms of execution.

While it was refreshing to see India play the way they did against Afghanistan and Scotland, it was, one would feel, too little too late. The brand of cricket they played was particularly endearing where fans finally got to see potential translating into performance. I won’t be surprised if they play the same dominant form of cricket and steamroll past Namibia in their last match to end the tournament, ironically, on a ‘high’, so to speak.

As Indian cricket readies itself to turn a page to the next chapter, with Kohli giving up T20I captaincy and Shastri coming to the end of his tenure, there is this pressing need to ‘Reboot and Restart’. For starters, we need a settled eleven for T20 internationals with at least 22-23 overs being available at the captain’s disposal. Rohit, who, by all means, is the next in line to lead India in the limited-overs format, has his work cut out for himself since the next edition of the World T20 will be held in a year’s time from now. Here’s hoping the winds of change bring about a change in fortunes for the team in the shortest format as well.

Not the start India wanted, but the one it needed…

The most awaited T20 tournament in the world, arguably after IPL, is upon us and we have had quite a few moments already that would definitely go on to make the highlights package of the tournament. The debutants, Scotland and Namibia, stake a majority claim on those moments. Looking forward to seeing more of them during the course of the tournament and afterwards.

India played Pakistan in their opening match last night. After having cruised to victory in both their warm-up games, India started as favorites going into the match. Their arch-rivals, mercurial neighbors, Pakistan, have always been the underdogs, well, atleast since the turn of the century, but even more so in a World Cup match. Having said that, they have always had the knack of causing an upset, but it is never known which Pakistan would turn up on the day. And that makes watching them in action all the more worthwhile. Sadly, India found itself at the receiving end right from the word go, and always seemed to be playing the catch-up game thereafter.

Having won the toss, Babar put India in to bat first. Pakistan were brilliant with the new ball. Shaheen pitched it right up, hit the right areas and allowed the ball to swing, something which the Indian counterparts did not. Three quick wickets early in the game pushed India onto the backfoot, as a result of which they struggled to get any sort of momentum into their innings. Pant, being his maverick self, did bring out his one-handed swipes for sixes and accompanied Kohli to restore some stability. Despite the continuous loss of wickets from one end and an elongated tail, one would feel India did well to post 151 on the board. Pakistan were equally good in the field. Apart from ‘that-one-overthrow’, they were pretty disciplined otherwise.

Indian bowlers werent as effective with the new ball, largely owing to the line and length they bowled. The positive intent showed by the Pakistani openers didnt help their cause either. Rizwan and Babar dispatched the lose ones to the boundary and were able to rotate strike regularly, making sure the scoreboard always kept ticking. It was as clinical a run-chase as any could get, wherein they did not give a single chance to the opposition. The fact that they won by a 10 wicket margin is a testament to India being completely outplayed.

India have a week’s time to get past this and I am sure, they will put up a better performance when they turn up next on the field. They were beaten comprehensively by a team that played better cricket. On a lighter note, I feel we should be relieved that the ‘one-bad-game’ has been done away with early in the tournament rather than having it in the knockouts. And hence, the title of this piece. I know nothing is as good as ending up on the winning side, but as they say, ‘Failure will teach you more than success ever will.’