India in CWC 2019: So near, yet so far!

Cricket is a funny game. Fortunes can fluctuate in an instant. One coin toss, one rash shot, a few quick wickets can all change the entire structure of the game in a span of a few minutes.

In the group stages, India were the toast of the World Cup. Of the nine matches played, they lost just one match against hosts England, shared a point with New Zealand in a washed-out match and convincingly defeated all the other teams they faced. They finished on top of the group standings with a whopping fifteen points and qualified for the semi-finals along with Australia, England and New Zealand.

Indian cricket fans were understandably ecstatic. Everything was going right for India. The batting, especially the top order was firing on all cylinders. Rohit Sharma was in sublime form, notching up a record five world cup centuries. Though Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the tournament early on due to injury, K.L. Rahul took his place and gave credible support to Rohit at the top order. Rishabh Panth stepped up beautifully in his role as no.4 in place of the injured Vijay Shankar. Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, M.S. Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja too had their moments.

The Indian bowling too was looking lethal. Jasprit Bumrah justified the ICC no.1 bowler rank on his shoulders with some outstanding pace bowling. Other bowlers like Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami (who took a hat-trick in the tournament), Yuzavendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya, Kuldip Yadav and others chipped in with tight bowling and vital wickets when needed.

India was supposed to play New Zealand in the first semi-final. The Indians were clearly looking the favourites against underdogs New Zealand, who narrowly edged out Pakistan to scrape through to the final four based on higher net run-rate.

But Cricket, like Life is an unpredictable game.

In a rain-interrupted match which was extended to the second day, New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first. It was a good toss to win as the pitch would slow down as the hours went by, making life difficult for the side batting second. Nevertheless, India managed to restrict New Zealand to two hundred and thirty four runs. Though the pitch was slowing down and was getting more difficult to bat on, fans supposed it would be a cake-walk for India, especially for their in-form top order batsmen.

Or so they thought.

Hardly had a few overs been bowled in India’s innings and India were reeling at five runs for the loss of three wickets. Rohit, K.L. Rahul and Kohli were back in the pavilion without troubling the scorers much. Rishabh Panth, Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya steadied the ship for some time before they fell trying to accelerate the run-rate. It was left to M.S. Dhoni(playing his last world cup match) and Ravindra Jadeja to get India home. And they very nearly did! I thought they batted beautifully under pressure. MSD played the sheet anchor role and Ravindra Jadeja showed that he was not just a bits and pieces player by playing some brilliant shots. Unfortunately, it was not to be India’s day. Despite a steady hundred run partnership between the two and some good batting, the required run rate continued rising and both batsmen perished towards the end attempting to get the required runs. New Zealand mopped up the tail-enders quick and India fell short of their target by an agonizing eighteen runs.

Indian fans were shocked beyond belief! What had just happened? The tournament favourites were defeated by the underdogs! After a month of spectacular Cricket, India’s dream to win the world cup for the third time came to a dismal end. Once again, we came so close to the finish line, only to be thwarted at the last crucial moment.

If we analyze the reasons for this defeat, the one and only root-cause I can think of is the over-reliance of the team on the top order and it’s subsequent failure at a critical juncture. What was India’s major trump card throughout the tournament turned out to be it's Achilles Heel. Throughout the world cup, the top order performed consistently and brilliantly, so much so that the middle order was left unexposed and hardly faced any pressure situations to exercise their muscles to. And suddenly in this match, when the top-order collapsed like a pack of cards, the middle-order found itself under immense pressure. It was a thin tightrope they had to cross. On one hand they had to conserve wickets and on the other, maintain the required run rate which was creeping up with every ball. To top it all, the pitch was not exactly a batsman’s paradise. The pitch was slowing down with time and scoring was becoming more and more difficult.

Many have criticized MS for not rotating the strike enough, thereby putting more pressure on Ravindra Jadeja. They also criticized him for not going for his shots early, allowing the required run rate to creep up. But I think he did exceedingly well in the circumstances. People should realize that he and Jadeja were the last recognized batting pair left for India. Had they gone for the shots earlier, they would have risked losing their wickets earlier as well and the match would have been over very soon. But given the situation, I think they managed to the best of their abilities. Sometimes, it’s just not your day, despite your best efforts.

India faced a similar situation in the 2015 world cup. Even in that tournament as in this, the top order performed brilliantly throughout. India were undefeated in the group stages and went on to qualify for the semi-finals where they faced a spirited Australian side at Sydney. Australia set a difficult target of 329 runs for India to chase. And as it happened, the top order did give a decent start but collapsed and soon, the middle order faced the double pressure of trying to conserve wickets but also maintain the required run rate. We lost the match dismally and even worse, lost the lesson too.

We should have learnt from that defeat. Relying too much on the top order means that the middle order remains underexposed. Even in the 2019 tournament, the loss against England should have been a wake-up call. Batting second, needing to score a total of 338 runs, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli fired in that match. But they lost their wickets when India was at a critical juncture. Panth, Hardik, Kedar Jadhav and MSD did their best but could not match the required run rate and India fell short by 31 runs. This match exposed chinks in the Indian middle order. Lessons should have been learnt and the Indian middle order should have been mentally prepared for facing such pressure situations. The top order should not have collapsed the way it did. It should have added at least a few more runs on the board, taking the pressure away from the middle order.

But overall, it has been a great tournament for India. Despite faltering at the critical juncture, the Indians can take credit for playing some really outstanding cricket this tournament. And I would echo Virat Kohli’s sentiments in questioning the knock-out format in this world cup. It’s really not fair to see a team which played so well throughout the tournament to give up their dream due to just one bad day of cricket. Some might argue that this is how the game is played, but I beg to differ. A team which has performed so brilliantly throughout needs to be given another chance to prove itself. Maybe, the format followed in the IPL also needs to be introduced to the world cup. As per this format, there would be one qualifier and two eliminator matches. The topmost and the second highest scorer in the final four (In this case India and Australia) would face each other first. The winner would automatically qualify for the final. The loser of the qualifying match is not immediately knocked out, but has another chance at qualifying. The third and the fourth placed in the top 4(in this case England and New Zealand) would face each other in an eliminator. The loser would immediately have to pack their bags and exit the tournament. The winner of the eliminator would face the loser of the first qualifier in another eliminator match. The winner of this match qualifies for the finals while the loser is eliminated. This, I think is a fair method and at least gives the top performers another chance. This is some food for thought for future editions of the tournament.

Well, whatever happened has happened. Though, I am disappointed, I am still proud of the way our boys performed. We can still walk out of the tournament with our heads held high.

Congratulations to England for winning the tournament in their fourth appearance in the world cup final (they previously appeared in 1979,1987 and 1992). It was a cracker of a match. To their credit, New Zealand put up an amazing fight to what has been the most keenly contested World Cup Cricket final of all time. Kudos to both the teams.

People are criticizing the ICC rules on the number of boundaries in the Super Over which helped England bag it's maiden world cup title. But even otherwise destiny was favoring England. Trent Boult took a catch only to discover he had crossed the boundary line, the ball ricocheting of Ben Stoke's bat to go on towards the boundary, adding four additional runs to what could have been just two and then Martin Guptill being run out on the last ball of the Super over. It was destiny playing it's hand to make sure England won. Destiny must have seen England's hunger for winning and must have been impressed by them clawing their back into the world cup from being nearly knocked out of the tournament after defeats to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia. And she decided to favor them. They are deserving winners.

What’s also good news is that Australia will not be lifting the world cup this time. They’ve already won the world cup a record 5 times and quite frankly, I was getting tired of seeing them lift the trophy. I’ve nothing personal against the Aussies. They’re a great bunch of talented and competitive cricketers, but Cricket needs a new Champion.

I would also like to add another short note here. Indian Cricket and Cricketers have come a long way since the early days. Indian cricketers were not well paid back then and the infrastructure was in shambles. But it took a determined and concentrated effort on part of the Indian government, the BCCI and some funding from Corporates to put Indian Cricket on the right track. Thanks to their efforts, infrastructure has improved my leaps and bounds, talent is abounding and Indian Cricketers are better paid lot now. Many youngsters are considering Cricket as a lucrative and satisfying career. All this did not happen overnight. It took a lot of time, nurturing and support . Similarly, if the same amount of focus and dedication were applied to other sports such as Hockey, Football, Athletics etc. then India will become a major player in the global sporting arena. We need to get out of his obsessive cricket rut. I’ve nothing against cricket and cricketers. I’m simply asking the government for the same amount of focus on other sports too. No doubt this will take time as good results cannot happen overnight. But we need to take the first step in this direction.

Ciao, till the next world cup in 2023! Bleed blue until then!

Jai Hind!

Note: This is the third time in a row that the nation hosting the tournament has lifted the cup (2011 – India, 2015 – Australia, 2019 - England)