T20 World Cup: Team India runs into Afghan Wall

Hyderabad: India’s script has gone horribly wrong after a disastrous start to the World Cup losing to Pakistan and New Zealand in the first two matches. This was something not expected as they were firm favourites for the tournament. But it has now turned out to be a nightmare of sorts and as they face […]

Hyderabad: India’s script has gone horribly wrong after a disastrous start to the World Cup losing to Pakistan and New Zealand in the first two matches. This was something not expected as they were firm favourites for the tournament. But it has now turned out to be a nightmare of sorts and as they face the dangerous Afghanistan in their third encounter of Group 2 of the Super 12 on Wednesday, Virat Kohli’s men face an early exit from the World Cup if they succumb to their third defeat. The two severe setbacks have suddenly made Afghanistan a formidable opponent for India.

Till a few months ago India were on top and breathing with a lot of confidence. But as they say cricket is a game of uncertainty and has all gone topsy-turvy for India after tasting defeats at the hands of Pakistan and New Zealand.

Even if India beat Afghanistan on Wednesday, the road to semifinals looks grim. It is the Afghanistan factor as they should beat New Zealand and then India should look for an outside chance for a semifinal berth. It is for the first time, after many years, Indian players look low in confidence. There is a lot of uncertainty and the fear of losing could haunt the Indians. The backlash at home is another factor that could worry the players.

The 2007 World Cup disastrous campaign is still fresh in memory and that ugly spectacle could return on Wednesday. There is already a request to the Delhi Cops by the Human Rights Commission to strengthen the security at Kohli’s house in New Delhi. Such is the fickle mind of sport minded people that within no time the heroes become villains. The ugly trolls have not done any good to the Indian team.

There is already a lot of post-mortems being done on India’s show so far. For sure, there is already a call of removal of Kohli from captaincy. Although Kohli has decided to quit T20 captaincy, there is now even a talk that he could lose even his one-day captaincy.

What has led to the sudden turnaround of fortunes? It is a combination of factors. One being, as pacer Jasprit Bumrah rightly blamed it on, bubble fatigue. Playing continuous cricket and staying away from family has made the players jaded. There are fingers pointed towards the Indian Premier League (IPL) for putting the Indian team in this embarrassing position. The IPL is always a competitive tournament but the decision of the Indian cricket board to host the second phase of IPL ahead of the World Cup is questionable.

The batters lost their confidence and the bowlers lacked the sting. The failure of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul has hurt India. Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar flayed the Indian team for demoting Rohit. The Indian batters look leaden-footed. What is surprising, the New Zealand spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi also had Indian batsmen on a tight leash. The scores of Indian batters have so far looked like STD code. Afghanistan have a probing attack that could trouble the Indians. They would be raring to go. They sniff history.

That the Indian bowlers could take only two wickets from two matches is another big concern. As former off-spinner Kanwaljit Singh said the biggest mistake was to omit off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. “Playing Varun Chakravarthy ahead of Ashwin is unpardonable. The off spinner is a seasoned bowler,” said Kanwaljit.

It is a huge Wednesday for India. Kohli has never been lucky with the toss and that has also played big part in India’s campaign as dew has been a big factor in this tournament. In this tense scenario, it is the biggest challenge for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to showcase his skills in his new role as mentor of the Indian team. The players require a lot of mental toughness to stay cool and play the match on Wednesday irrespective of their progress to the semifinals.

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