Looking at the way India won their last two matches Afghanistan and Scotland by 66 runs and eight wickets respectively, one wonders where such dominating performances in their opening two matches against Pakistan and New Zealand have disappeared.
India’s win against Afghanistan should have been by an even bigger margin but for unnecessary runs leaked in the last few overs. Scotland’s ruthless demolition on Friday night with 81 balls to spare, the Indian team has been able to perform consistently. Friday night’s win has kept India’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup alive, though it seems a distant prospect.
The victory on both sides of Diwali has only boosted India’s net run rate, from negative to the highest NRR in Group II after the second loss against New Zealand and the second highest among Super 12 teams (+1.619) after England (+1.619). Is. 3.183).
India’s efforts against Afghanistan and Scotland would mean nothing if New Zealand registered a simple win against Afghanistan on Sunday. This would mean New Zealand finish Group II with four wins from five matches. New Zealand are expected to win against the Asian team in Abu Dhabi (a start at 3.30am IST) and will only formalize India’s last encounter against Namibia the next day.
But as of now, India is still alive in the tournament. They were so dominant against Scotland as they were against Afghanistan that you could be forgiven if you wanted ‘how nice it would be if the results of India’s two practice matches against England and Australia were replaced with their results against Pakistan. be given and New Zealand’.
Read also | T20 World Cup 2021: We have been batting like this in practice games, says Virat Kohli
The key opening partnership that Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul made against Afghanistan (14.4 in 140 overs) and Scotland (70 in 5 overs) was clearly missing in the first two. Agreed that the quality he faced against Pakistan and New Zealand was different against Afghanistan and Scotland. But, Rohit and Rahul are two destructive batsmen that the quality of the opposition doesn’t matter at all. How many times has he made the batting with his strokeplay so easy and pleasing to the eye!
Losing the toss against Pakistan and New Zealand in Dubai was a simple but important affair that cost India the match. Had India won the toss in those matches, India would now be sitting with a realistic scenario of 4 played, 4 won, 8 points, 4 played, 2 won, 2 lost, 4 points.
At the same Dubai International Cricket Stadium where India suffered upsets in their opening two matches, skipper Virat Kohli, on his 33rd birthday, found luck with the coin after his opposite number Kyle Coetzer from Scotland was misquoted. India opted to bowl first after being on the receiving end of the dew factor in the first two matches at this venue.
t20 world cup full coverage | the schedule | photos | Mark sheet
Everything went well during the day. Restricting Scotland to less than 100 and getting the target in less than ten overs was the way to go if India seriously thought about keeping their NRR high. India could not have asked for more from the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakraborty after coming up against the pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami in the power play.
While Jadeja finished with his career-best T20I figures of 3/15, the pressure created by Ashwin and Chakraborty at the other end could not be understated, especially in his opening delivery by the senior-most off-spinner. After enough going. Jadeja’s strike in the middle overs did the perfect job including a team hat-trick for Bumrah (2/10) and Shami (career-best 3/15) to shine the tail and bowl out Scotland for 85. It’s called partnership bowling, and it was all about India in this match.
One may wonder whether it would have been a better option for India to bat first against Scotland, considering the conditions India were in, NRR was the most important thing in their mind. Bat first, posting as high a total as they did against Afghanistan (210/2), although India were placed to bat in that match in Abu Dhabi on 3 November.
Considering that India did first and posted in over 200, or even 250 given the Scots bowled, what was the guarantee that India would bowl out the Scots for less than 100? Especially bowling with the wet ball and also batting second is a different proposition than batting first in night matches in Dubai.
Knowing the target and getting it in the required number of times using mathematical calculations was the right way to go about it after winning the toss. And, after bowling out Scotland for 85, the magic number for India was 7.1 overs or 43 deliveries to complete the target of beating the others in net run rate. Rahul and Rohit provided what not only talks about India’s dominance against Scotland but also reiterates its stature in world cricket.
Read also | T20 World Cup 2021: Record broken as KL Rahul hits second fastest fifty by an Indian
It was underscored by the winning shot, a straight six by Suryakumar Yadav, to take India home in 6.3 overs and their biggest ever winning margin in terms of number of unused deliveries. Whatever could have gone right for India, happened right that day. Even as Rahul hit a six off right-arm medium pacer Brad Wheel, diving fielder Michael Leask took it to the boundary, indicating it was an all-India day.
Playing three spinners proved to be the right recipe for India. Legendary Sunil Gavaskar said after the match that India should have played with three spinners against New Zealand and should have done the same against Namibia. In cricket, playing according to your strength is often the mantra.
India can be seen winning both their matches after remembering the highly experienced Ashwin against Afghanistan as a positive vibe and India may have made a mistake in not playing him directly against Pakistan as the experience on current form is such. Counts in important matches. Perhaps the biggest mistake India made was sending Ishan Kishan along with Rahul to open against New Zealand and thus pushing Rohit to No. 3 and Kohli to No. 4.
let it go. No matter how much you criticize that move or other mistakes made by India, the results against Pakistan and New Zealand will not be reversed. At least India have learned from their mistakes and have not committed new mistakes against Afghanistan and Scotland.
Now that the Indian team is back in its mojo, as Kohli said in his post-match presentation, all eyes will be on the New Zealand vs Afghanistan match on Sunday. Afghanistan’s victory keeps India alive in the competition. New Zealand’s win means India are out of the race for the semi-finals.
Either way, India will have a lot to watch out for from their opening two defeats, which will haunt the team till a place in the semi-finals or final and win the ICC T20 World Cup, whenever it can.
get all IPL news and cricket score Here
.