There is absolutely no doubt that India have been the standout side in the World Cup. But the capitulation in Sunday’s final was one of many in the knockout stages International Criminal Court Events – It begs the uncomfortable question: Is India the new? ChokersWorld cricket? The title was reserved for South Africa during the 1990s and 2000s. They were a great cricket team – from the Hansi Cronje-Bob Woolmer era right through to the brilliant side of AB de Villiers – but they never managed to win the silverware that really mattered. .
How Pat Cummins silenced the Ahmedabad crowd with the Australian team’s flawless performance in the finals
Since winning the Champions Trophy in 2013 in England, India have taken a similar path. In ICC events – in T20s and ODIs – India have consistently reached the semi-finals and finals, but have been unable to get over the line. Coach Rahul Dravid admitted on Sunday after the defeat that the team was not able to play to its full potential on the big days, but rejected the idea that they were “scared” in the final.
But that doesn’t explain how the team managed to hit just four boundaries in the space of 40 overs, which effectively cost India the match. It is true that the ball was stalling a bit, but that cannot be the reason why India scored just 110 runs in the last 25 overs.
The team, which had played with such freedom when the league was a single-round system, froze when it was under the weight of knockouts. All the cobwebs that Rohit Sharma and company were trying to clear in the run-up to the match came back to haunt them at the worst possible moment.
Rahul Dravid on India’s loss and Rohit’s leadership: There were a lot of emotions in the dressing room
It could be a case of premature climax. The team, mentally invested in a month-long event, may have felt overwhelmed when it mattered most. Another explanation could be the fact that through 10 matches in the World Cup, the lower middle-order Indian team did not come under any pressure. Such was the strong form of the top five that the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja were taken off the boil with the bat. Sending those two up the standings for the matches against South Africa and the Netherlands after the team had reached the semi-finals might have given them more playing time in the middle, which they seemed to lack in the final.
The next ODI World Cup will be held in four years, and by then, there will be a lot of new players in the system. And in six months’ time, we’ll get a look at this new crop in the T20 World Cups in the USA and the West Indies. One could only hope that even if they couldn’t match the incredible quality of some of the current stars, their minds were free of the clutter of fear of failure.
He watches Prime Minister Modi consoles Team India in the dressing room after losing the World Cup final to Australia