The Indian cricket team was humiliated, thrashed, and humbled by England in a comprehensive performance , the margin of defeat may perhaps scar the players for a long time. The defeat emphasized the long-term Achilles' heel impending within the Indian team's approach to the shortest format of the game.
India has been knocked out of the ICC Men’s t-20 world cup in the semi-finals by England in what now exhibits India’s incompetence to deliver in the crunch knockout matches in an ICC event. Exit from this year’s world cup nearly marks a decade to the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, the last ICC event that India had bagged. In the decade since India’s tale in ICC, tournaments have been of capitulation, anxiety, and disappointment, particularly in the knockout stages. Out of the 7 ICC tournaments since 2013, India qualified for the semi-finals on 6 occasions, progressing to the finals on 2 occasions, but failed to secure any major trophy. India’s graph in the shortest format of the game categorically is of grave concern as the team’s evident vulnerability was exposed in its entirety during the world cup this year and the previous edition in 2021.
Against an England team whose brand of white ball cricket has been sublime and ruthless over the past 3-4 years, India’s bowlers were taken to smithereens, utterly dominated. The bowling was mediocre and underwhelming by a severe degree. As an honest analyst’s admission, India was hardly the favourite to win this tournament. Rewinding to 2021 edition which is the benchmark for the proceedings in 2022. India’s approach to the t-20 format had been timid and conservative, a predicament which was admitted by the skipper in multiple press conferences, a concern that the team was adamant about addressing. India had to embrace a more insistent and fearless style if it wanted to perform in the decisive moments.
It appears though that team’s attitude in Australia especially after the first game against Pakistan in which Kohli’s innings personified resilience and patience initially and produced the grandstand finish. The team’s mindset stagnated to conservatism and pragmatism, rather than opting for the attacking flamboyance from the first ball. India felt if the team reserved wickets initially at the cost of the run rate, the hard hitters then could finish in style with panache and finesse. India’s severity of its conservative and slow approach was detrimental to an adverse effect as it was one of the lowest-scoring teams in the powerplay with an average of 36 runs in the first six overs, India's tactic was excessively dependent on a big finish. A couple of games in which India managed to score 180, were courtesy of Yadav’s excellence and aggression with the bat proving the fireworks in the death.
The strategy of safety in this format is a decoy, t-20 is not a place for reputation its not a format for authentically constructing innings. Team India’s theme during the campaign was of caution. Analyzing the diffident sense of Indian openers, both of them in the world cup scored at an underwhelming strike rate of below 100 in the power play. Rohit’s with a dubious strike rate of 89 and Rahul’s with a marginal increase of 98.5 perhaps more suited to the ODI format. Kohli’s performances have been commendable and consistent although his prerogative in the context of accelerating the game is fairly critical. Ending the world cup with a below-par strike rate of 130, which is again not ideal for a batsman at number 3. The top three in the ladder personify India’s Achilles' heel in batting approach. Sky was the only beacon of aggression, intent, and exogenous approach in the batting line-up, attacking the opponent with an offensive objective, and having an average strike rate of 182 in the cup. To add insult to injury India’s average strike rate per over before the fall of the first wicket at the tournament was measly 5 runs, which was the lowest in the tournament, even Netherlands boasting an average of 6. Indian openers together before the fall of the first wicket scored an embarrassing 88 runs consuming 106 deliveries perhaps perfect for the ODI format.
Evaluating the strike rate of all Indian batters who faced at-least 50 deliveries in the T20 world cup since the 2009 edition, providing an adequate base to calculate. The results of the strike rate follow: In the 2009 world cup 121, 2014 world cup 114, and 2016 world cup 117, the previous edition had 121, and for this year again at 120. The data here is a manifestation of the nerve of the challenge, India’s timid approach to the game and batting in specific. India in the past few years had possessed aggressive and quick bowling which consisted of raw pace and was one of the most lethal attacks in the world established and cultivated by the duo of Shastri and Kohli. In his desperate attempt to dismantle their monopoly and regime, Ganguly handed the reign of the team to the Dravid-Rohit regime whose approach to bowling has reverted to medium-pace and reputation relying on finger spinners over attaching the opposition with wrist spinners.
The duo and the selectors have been overlooking bowlers like Umran, Mousim Khan, and Kuldeep Sen. Rather than nurturing the bowlers with the raw pace they are relying on bowlers with a limited skill set and medium pace, a safer but less dynamic approach. Pakistan’s ability to defend below-par totals for 150 is courtesy of their exuberant and genuine fast bowling approach. Even on the front of bowling, it was team India's secure, prudent, and timid approach which was detrimental to its success in this year’s edition.
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