There were mixed signals and assessments of the loss against New Zealand on Sunday from the Indian camp, as captain Virat Kohli and lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah offered contrasting statements following their team’s successive defeat in the T20 World Cup 2021.
As the Indian team managed to post a total of only 110/7 in their 20 overs after being put into bat first by New Zealand and suffered an eight-wicket loss, question marks are being raised over their approach as a batting unit in T20Is.
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Usually so strong in their mental make-up and playing a flexible brand of cricket, the Indian team looked a touch out of character in the way they batted. There was an evident sense of nerve and hesitation in their stroke-making, which NZ’s disciplined bowling line-up exploited, and that meant a disastrous first half which has almost ended India’s World Cup hopes.
“To be brutal upfront, I don’t think we were brave enough with bat/ball. We obviously didn’t have much to play with the ball. We were just not brave enough in our body language when we entered the field and NZ had better intensity, body language.”
“Every time we took a chance, we lost a wicket. It’s most often a result of hesitation of whether you should go for a shot or not.”
he said first-up at the post-match presentation ceremony.
However, Bumrah said the Indian mindset with the bat was “attacking” since they realised that there would be dew falling down on the ground and surface in the second half and because they tried to give the side a cushion of extra runs, they lost wickets in the process.
“Batters wanted to give a cushion of 20 to 30 extra runs and in that process they played a lot of attacking shots, which didn’t come off today. In the second innings, batting does get easier, so they wanted to give that cushion to the bowlers and, in that thought process, played lot of attacking shots.”
Bumrah said at presser, as quoted by PTI.
Bumrah added that getting those extra “25 to 30 runs” was always going to be difficult on what he read as a “two-paced” track in the first half. With the dew coming in during the second half, and the asking rate only 5.55, New Zealand got the better of the batting conditions and approached their chase quite freely.
But India weren’t just done in by the conditions. As Kohli said, they did lack the right approach and sense of clarity as a batting unit in the first innings. There was a curious move to drop Rohit Sharma down to No.3 with Suryakumar Yadav’s injury prompting a promotion up the order for his replacement Ishan Kishan.
However, that hurt India badly as both Rohit (14) and Kohli (9) failed to get any sort of momentum in their respective innings facing New Zealand’s spin duo Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi.
At the top, Kishan never looked comfortable facing Trent Boult and was out caught for just 4. KL Rahul’s was the more costly wicket, as the in-form opener was only beginning to shift gears when he was hauled out for 18.
New Zealand also never allowed India’s middle-order aggressors Rishabh Pant (12), Hardik Pandya (23) and Ravindra Jadeja (26*) to get going. It was one of India’s most disappointing batting performances and loss, which has now put them on the brink of elimination in the competition.
Having faced defeats to Pakistan and New Zealand, Kohli’s men next play Afghanistan on November 3 in Abu Dhabi.
