India crash out of the World Cup 2019

India’s campaign at the World Cup 2019 ended today with a defeat at the hands of New Zealand. While it was a pretty successful campaign and the team can hold its head high, the ending was rather a bit abrupt and very few would have anticipated a loss at the semi-final stage against New Zealand. Keep in mind that New Zealand is a team that many people thought was lucky to scrap through and it is only a matter of time before they would crash out.

So, what went wrong? Obviously, the batting. India had depended on their top order for far too long. With Rohit in sublime touch and Kohli providing ample support at one-down, the middle order was never tested and this was always a cause of concern. India were also unlucky to lose a big tournament player i.e. Shikhar Dhawan pretty much at the beginning of the tournament and this upset the plans a bit as well. However, there was never a plan for the middle order. And the selectors (famously led by MSK Prasad) had been hoping and praying that the top order will come out good all the time.

How else could you explain Vijay Shankar playing as a specialist #4? I do understand that he is a good batsman and can be a decent bowler but in a high-pressure tournament like the World Cup, you just do not put someone as inexperienced as him in the #4 slot. The situation further down the order has been even more chaotic. MSD normally shows up at #5 but for reasons best known to the duo of Kohli-Shastri, he was demoted to #7 today. Then you have Kedhar Jadhav and Dinesh Karthik in the team as well but they were also never properly handled.

I find the case of Karthik even more bizarre. After his match-winning knock against Bangladesh in the T20 tournament last year, it was expected that he will get a longer run in the team and given his experience, would most likely walk in the team as a middle/lower order batsman. However, this was never the case. I do not have the numbers but it is evident that he did not enjoy the confidence of the captain and hence was neither given enough opportunities nor utilized properly.

The team management did persist with Rayudu who seemed to be a permanent #4 but then form deserted him at the most inappropriate time (both for him as well as the team) and he could not make the cut for the final 15. What followed was even more non-sensical and ultimately ended with his retirement.

Lastly, the curious case of Lokesh Rahul. He was supposed to play as a middle order batsman but then Dhawan’s injury meant that he will open the innings. He did his job with a fair degree of success but overall never really exploded and was a huge disappointment today :(

On the plus side, Pant showed promise and hopefully will be given a few more chances but most importantly, will grab this opportunity with both hands. Pandya also batted reasonably well throughout the tournament and these two should form the core of the future Indian batting line-up i.e. the middle order. I am not sure who else will play for India but given the fact that Kedhar and Dinesh are not too young, I hope the selectors look for long-term solutions than some temporary ones.

We also had a pretty strong bowling line-up. Bumrah continued to impress while Bhuvi and Shami also had reasonably good touranment. I have to say that the much-hyped duo of Chahal and Kuldeep did not live up to the expectations. Seeing Santner bowler for NZ, you had to feel that Chahal perhaps gave one of his sub-standard performances in this game. My heart goes out to Ravinder Jadeja though and while I have never been a fan of his, I have to say that this was a game that he almost single-handedly won for India. Bowled beautifully, fielded like he always does (as Harsha Bhogle once said- I would pay simply to watch him field) and then pulled India out of the hole and nearly took the team home. Well played Sir and I hope you will continue to flourish as an ODI-player and win more matches for India in the near future.

Lastly, it is a loss that is hard to accept. India had a strong team which had ample resources to hide its inadequacies. India were also the over-whelming favorites and had topped the table, so were expected to get to the final at least. But thanks to Ravinder Jadeja, fans like me will still look back at this game with fondness.
Good luck to the team for the next ventures.