Well, I never thought that within three days of posting my report about the interesting super 8’s, I will have to write something like this :(.
But the unthinkable and unimaginable did happen and India crashed out of T20 WC.
When India was about to begin its chase against England, I said to my friend that India should get to 153. And if they do not get, then obviously they lose and will be out of the competition. But at the same time, they don’t deserve to be in the semis at all then.
The stories of both the matches which India lost have a lot of things in common. The failure of the ‘famed’ batting line-up was central to both the losses. While against Windies, we got off to a poor start and reached only a decent 153 thanks largely to the efforts of Yuvi and Yusuf, against England we could not even reach 153 :(
To blame Dhoni for the failures is not the right thing to do. Of course, some of his moves backfired but as a captain you are not supposed to make the right moves all the time.
So now the issue is who all failed in the competition? The answer is pretty simple…it was a collective failure. While the likes of Raina and Rohit failed in the match against W. Indies (these guys were going through the form of their lives), the bowling was also a very average performance. Zaheer Khan (who was very happy with his bowling form against Ireland) did not do what is expected of a team’s top bowler and Bhajji was not up to the mark as well. Ishant Sharma had a forgettable tournament and I don’t think this format suits him much. He should be going back to Test cricket and try to hone his bowling skills. Dhoni did screwed the innings with a painful innings of 11 off 23 deliveries and with only 153 on board, things were always going to be tight for Indians.
While the W Indies did not begin their chase in a bang-bang manner, they always kept the asking run-rate under check. Gayle and Fletcher could not do much but Bravo was the one who made all the difference. I was just wondering that when cricket experts talk about the present all-rounders, they would inevitably name guys like Flintoff and Kallis and even Yuvraj. But this fellow is at par with the ones mentioned above. He is a proper bowler, has a very good technique as a batsman and very good fielder as well (I remember watching a match between KXIP and MI at PCA stadium, Mohali during IPL-2008 where Bravo took a wonderful catch at long-off to dismiss Yuvraj and immediately became the most hated player among the crowd). Chanderpaul also came good at the end (he does this every time when he plays against India :( ) and W. Indies won comfortably.
Against England, India started with a couple of changes by replacing Pathan and Ojha. While RP deserved to be in, I am not so sure about Jadeja. While the pacers only did a decent job (again Zaheer failing to get some early wickets, though RP bowled beautifully) Jadeja and Bhajji bowled pretty well to restrict England to 153.
However, Jadeja was the difference between both the teams. While bowling he got rid of Peitersen and Bopara but when he was batting, he got rid of everything for India unfortunately. He played an astronomical 35 deliveries and made only 25 and that was a setback to the chase. Yuvraj should have come in the place of Jadeja and things MAY have been different. Yuvraj came and departed soon and then Dhoni and Yusuf just could not find enough boundaries. In the end India lost the match by 3 runs but they never looked like winning. I just read a report in the morning where Yuvraj stated that he wants to bat up the order. Since this did not happen and played a major role in India’s defeat, the media definitely has got something to write against Dhoni.
However, I still stand by what I had said. T20 is an unpredictable format and India just got a taste of this. Last time they won when no one expected them to win and this time, the tables have been turned.
Nevertheless, I stilll back by my team and wish them all the luck for the up coming 4 ODI series against W. Indies (I still do not understand how this series came up).
PS: This is a report by an Indian cricket fanatic and therefore is highly biased :). Don’t expect me to praise anything BUT Indian performances. The wins by W. Indies and England are merely fluke :). This WC is all over for me now :(
But the unthinkable and unimaginable did happen and India crashed out of T20 WC.
When India was about to begin its chase against England, I said to my friend that India should get to 153. And if they do not get, then obviously they lose and will be out of the competition. But at the same time, they don’t deserve to be in the semis at all then.
The stories of both the matches which India lost have a lot of things in common. The failure of the ‘famed’ batting line-up was central to both the losses. While against Windies, we got off to a poor start and reached only a decent 153 thanks largely to the efforts of Yuvi and Yusuf, against England we could not even reach 153 :(
To blame Dhoni for the failures is not the right thing to do. Of course, some of his moves backfired but as a captain you are not supposed to make the right moves all the time.
So now the issue is who all failed in the competition? The answer is pretty simple…it was a collective failure. While the likes of Raina and Rohit failed in the match against W. Indies (these guys were going through the form of their lives), the bowling was also a very average performance. Zaheer Khan (who was very happy with his bowling form against Ireland) did not do what is expected of a team’s top bowler and Bhajji was not up to the mark as well. Ishant Sharma had a forgettable tournament and I don’t think this format suits him much. He should be going back to Test cricket and try to hone his bowling skills. Dhoni did screwed the innings with a painful innings of 11 off 23 deliveries and with only 153 on board, things were always going to be tight for Indians.
While the W Indies did not begin their chase in a bang-bang manner, they always kept the asking run-rate under check. Gayle and Fletcher could not do much but Bravo was the one who made all the difference. I was just wondering that when cricket experts talk about the present all-rounders, they would inevitably name guys like Flintoff and Kallis and even Yuvraj. But this fellow is at par with the ones mentioned above. He is a proper bowler, has a very good technique as a batsman and very good fielder as well (I remember watching a match between KXIP and MI at PCA stadium, Mohali during IPL-2008 where Bravo took a wonderful catch at long-off to dismiss Yuvraj and immediately became the most hated player among the crowd). Chanderpaul also came good at the end (he does this every time when he plays against India :( ) and W. Indies won comfortably.
Against England, India started with a couple of changes by replacing Pathan and Ojha. While RP deserved to be in, I am not so sure about Jadeja. While the pacers only did a decent job (again Zaheer failing to get some early wickets, though RP bowled beautifully) Jadeja and Bhajji bowled pretty well to restrict England to 153.
However, Jadeja was the difference between both the teams. While bowling he got rid of Peitersen and Bopara but when he was batting, he got rid of everything for India unfortunately. He played an astronomical 35 deliveries and made only 25 and that was a setback to the chase. Yuvraj should have come in the place of Jadeja and things MAY have been different. Yuvraj came and departed soon and then Dhoni and Yusuf just could not find enough boundaries. In the end India lost the match by 3 runs but they never looked like winning. I just read a report in the morning where Yuvraj stated that he wants to bat up the order. Since this did not happen and played a major role in India’s defeat, the media definitely has got something to write against Dhoni.
However, I still stand by what I had said. T20 is an unpredictable format and India just got a taste of this. Last time they won when no one expected them to win and this time, the tables have been turned.
Nevertheless, I stilll back by my team and wish them all the luck for the up coming 4 ODI series against W. Indies (I still do not understand how this series came up).
PS: This is a report by an Indian cricket fanatic and therefore is highly biased :). Don’t expect me to praise anything BUT Indian performances. The wins by W. Indies and England are merely fluke :). This WC is all over for me now :(
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