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Before the start of T20 World Cup, India’s batting lineup was considered as one of the best in the business, especially considering they played second phase of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 in UAE. However, within two matches India’s batting lineup’s weakness has been brutally exposed and they have started to look like pale shadows of themselves. There has been a stark difference in the performances of Indian batters in warm-up games and group stage games.
Against New Zealand, even after a batting order rejig, Indian batting looked lacklustre and could only post a below par total of 110/7 in 20 overs. It turned out be one of the worst batting performances by the Indian team in T20 World Cup over the years which leaves a lot of unanswered questions for the team management in the games to come.
Here’s how India lost the plot of setting a target against BlackCaps in three phases –
No power in powerplay overs
The main reason behind India posting ordinary totals has been losing early wickets, which has created immense pressure on the middle-order batters. After 31/3 against Pakistan, India posted 35/2 after six overs. The ploy to send Ishan Kishan to open the innings did not work. KL Rahul got off to a decent start but got out playing a half-hearted shot off the slower delivery towards backward square leg fielder. India would have lost three wickets if not for Rohit Sharma’s dropped catch at fine leg position.
Silent middle overs
The middle overs batting against New Zealand is perhaps India’s worst performance in a long time. Wickets fell at regular intervals and not a single boundary was scored from 7-15 overs. Rohit failed to make the most of his second chance and got out to Ish Sodhi. The Ludhiana-born then got skipper Virat Kohli as the latter succumbed to dot balls pressure. Rishabh Pant who normally has a high percentage of boundaries in the runs he scored, faced 19 deliveries and scored just 12 runs.
Just 43 runs were scored during this period as middle-order batters failed to do damage control and lay the foundation for a fighting total. Indian batters who are expected to be better players of spin bowling could not score a single boundary off Kiwi spinners Sodhi and Mitchell Santner.
Dreadful death overs
With a partnership going between Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, India were expected to finish with a flourish with both finishers firing on all cylinders. On the last ball of 17th over Hardik hit a boundary off Trent Boult which looked like a trailer of what is to come in the remaining three overs but it was not just India’s night. Hardik got out in the penultimate over after scoring a 24-ball 23.
The bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur disappointed as well bagging a three-ball duck. Jadeja gave some entertainment at the end with a boundary in the penultimate over and a maximum in the final over but the finishers were not able to provide no momentum whatsoever. India ended up scoring 32 runs in the final five overs, the only phase where they scored at a run rate over six runs per over. The non-threatening total of 110/7 was chased down easily as Indian bowlers did not have enough on the board to make a game out of it.
