Tuesday, 02 November 2021 | PTI | New Delhi
Kohli’s captaincy, Bubble fatigue, poor squad selection, IPL scheduling
A captain struggling to find his bearings, a team in which few players were picked on the basis of reputation than current form, and jaded bodies desperately seeking a break from the bio-bubbles have all contributed to India’s disastrous T20 World Cup campaign.
In 2021, it will be very difficult to point fingers at one particular cause for this shoddy performance — it could be those first 12 balls from Shaheen Shah Afridi that scarred them, or perhaps it was about “not being brave enough” in terms of execution as skipper Virat Kohli said after the defeat to New Zealand.
“I am shocked, not just by the loss, it’s the manner in which they have lost. You can have all the support staff but it’s about execution. It’s the
cricketers who have to go out there and play,” when someone as reticent as VVS Laxman is sharp and pointed in his post-match analysis on ‘Star Sports’, it is a sure sign that all is not well.
The PTI does a lowdown of series of possible reasons that contributed to the disastrous show so far:
King Kohli reaching business end of his captaincy career
Every captain has a shelf life. It’s just that one needs to realise when he has reached the end of that cycle. Sunil Gavaskar had that judgement, and so did Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Virat Kohli realised it just before the T20 World Cup and very rightly decided to relinquish his leadership role in the shortest format (including IPL).
But why has Kohli never been successful in multi-team events like the T20 World Cup, 50-over World Cups, Champions Trophy or the IPL? And why is he very successful in bilateral series? These are questions that have been befuddling for the cricket fraternity.
If one talks to people in the corridors of Indian cricket, they believe that Kohli, while playing bilateral cricket, always gets a chance to do course correction against same opposition if anything goes wrong.
If there is one opposition for five games in a row, he finds it easier to plan and lead. The moment it becomes a multi-team event, where the plan and strategy changes one game after the other, he never seems in control.
Fallout: Don’t be surprised if a new ODI captain takes over as well with the 2023 50-over World Cup being just two years away. This team needs a man with new ideas and fresh direction.
Lack of communication: Case in point being Hardik Pandyafully fit and it will be very, very difficult to regain his full bowling fitness, considering that batting is his primary skill.
So, who was the one who misled on Hardik Pandya’s fitness status before the team for the World Cup was selected?Was it chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma? But then why would he unless misguided by the team management? But Chetan is now copping the flak for stating on record that Hardik will bowl during the IPL at the team selection press conference.
Hardik didn’t bowl a single over in the IPL and his MI skipper Rohit Sharma said that he might start bowling in a week. Before Pakistan game, skipper Kohli said that they are looking at Hardik purely as a batter.
Fallout: Hardik might just find himself out of favour against New Zealand in T20I series at home and would need to again show his all-round prowess before he makes a comeback. Venkatesh Iyer is waiting in the wings.
National selectors will have some answering to do T20 perhaps is the only format where reputation counts for little with any team on a given day capable of upsetting a more fancied opposition. The national selection committee didn’t factor in current form during their T20 World Cup picks when they had IPL form for reference.
Would it have hurt to pick a Rururaj Gaikwad in the suad going purely by his form? He won the Orange Cap and dominated attacks on the UAE strips.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been plagued by injury, lack of pace, swing and poor form for the past two years and yet, he was picked ahead of Deepak Chahar, someone, who has the knack of getting breakthroughs in Powerplay.
Bhuvneshwar had only six IPL wickets and if that’s not poor form, what else is?
For a team that has been living out of suitcases for more than four months, the bubble fatigue had to catch up and BCCI’s scheduling of the remainder of Indian Premier League did play a massive role.
It was nobody’s fault as COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the scheduling. For a tournament where billions of dollars are at stake, abandoning it was never an option for the BCCI and the only window available was before the T20 World Cup.
Fallout: Even if the players want to play the home series against New Zealand, the, likes of Kohli, Rohit, Rahul, Bumrah, Pant and Shami deserve a break before the Test series that starts November 25.
