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A month ago, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were chasing perfect swansong for skipper Virat Kohli. The outfit crashed out of the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) edition and the Indian contingent also seems in the same boat.
Kohli's brigade now is staring at group-stage exit from the T20 World Cup 2021 after a horror defeat to New Zealand, exactly a week after the 10-wicket drubbing to Pakistan. The arch-rivals had ended India's near-three-decade domination in World Cups on October 24 by recording a comprehensive win. New Zealand have now rubbed salt to the wound, making India record a disastrous start to their T20 World Cup campaign.
The acclaimed Indian batting unit failed to turn up in the 'virtual knockout' of the T20 showpiece as they suffered an embarrassing eight-wicket defeat on Sunday. On a mediocre night in Dubai where nothing clicked for Kohli's men, they managed to score a paltry 110 for seven, effectively putting them in danger of losing out on a semi-final spot.
Chasing a meagre 111 was a cakewalk for New Zealand, who got past the finish line in the 15th over, with eight wickets in hand. Daryl Mitchell laid the foundation with a 35-ball 49 before skipper Kane Williamson (33 off 31 deliveries) drove them home. Jasprit Bumrah was the only Indian bowler who managed to make changes in the wickets column. He finished with figures of 2/19 in his four overs.
Ishan's opening gamble
Ishan Kishan only had opened once before this game, scoring 56 against England earlier this year in Ahmedabad. He, however, failed to get going tonight as he picked out Daryl Mitchell in the Powerplay. Just five off the first two overs perhaps piled a bit of pressure on the Indian openers, and that blew out with Ishan's early departure.
The 23-year-old optimistic batter was itching to add a boundary to his name before he picked out Daryl Mitchell in the square leg region. The last time regular opener Rohit Sharma was demoted to the No.3 position was in 2020, where he had notched up unbeaten 60 against the Kiwis.
KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma also joined Ishan, leaving India reeling at 40/3 inside the first eight overs. Rahul tried to help India recover from Ishan's jolt before Tim Southee removed him for 18 at the stroke of Powerplay. Rohit perished after scoring run-a-ball 14. A mistimed shot off Ish Sodhi towards long-on led to Rohit's dismissal as India slouched under pressure.
Ish Sodhi's birthday present to himself
The Indian team managed to hit just a single four or six in 70 deliveries against the BlackCaps. Skipper Virat Kohli, who scored 9 off 17 deliveries, walked back without scoring a single boundary as the Kiwi bowlers kept packing Indian batters.
Birthday boy Sodhi tossed one conventional leg-break outside the off-stump and the Indian captain, trying to hit against the turn, could only find Trent Boult at the long-on boundary.
His deputy Rohit also didn't get going. He did raise the hopes of Indian fans by whacking the team's only six of the innings. But his short-lived stay at the crease ended when a tumbling Martin Guptill managed to pluck the catch. Hardik Pandya (23 off 24 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (26* from 19 deliveries) chipped in with some runs as the struggling Indian unit tried to make a fist of it.
On the bowling front, both the Kiwi spinners had a good outing with the ball, defeating India in their own game. The batters looked clueless while tackling slower deliveries on the wicket as Mitchell Santner (15/0) and Sodhi (2/17) collectively conceded just 32 in their eight overs.
There were 54 dot balls which meant that India didn't score any runs in nine of their 20 overs. It seemed like a training session where the Kiwi fielders were being served catches in the deep.
Virat Kohli's tryst with toss
Kohli losing an important toss again! That doesn't seem new to the Indian fans now, and the skipper's T20 captaincy swansong is turning out to be a forgettable one.
This was the fifth consecutive instance of Kohli losing the toss in T20 Internationals. In his last 21 matches as a captain against the Kiwis, the coin flip hasn't favoured Kohli on 17 occasions, which is alarming. Two major changes -- Surya for Ishan and Shardul in place of Bhuvneshwar -- didn't make any difference after the unit crumbled while batting first.
Kohli, however, stressed on playing "positive" brand of cricket, with three more games in India's hands. "We have to be optimistic and positive and take calculated risks. We have to disconnect from the pressure and continue with our process, and play a positive brand of cricket. There's a lot of cricket to play in the tournament," he said in the post-match presentation.
The stiff Kiwi challenge
New Zealand extended their unbeaten T20 World Cup streak versus India with the dominant win. India, the 2007 T20 World Cup winners, had suffered solitary defeat of their otherwise impressive campaign. The opponents were New Zealand.
In the 2016 edition of the T20 World Cup, the result was no different. Mitchell Santner's four-wicket haul reduced the Indian unit to a meagre 79 while they were chasing a 126-run total in Nagpur.
India's last two ICC fixtures against New Zealand have also been heartbreaks! A narrow 18-run defeat to bow out of the 2019 ODI World Cup and an eight-wicket loss to miss out on the World Test Championship (WTC) title.
Mission barely possible for India
To keep the hopes alive for semi-final berth, there are lot of permutations and combinations involved. India need to win all of their remaining matches and boost their Net Run rate (NRR) by big wins, especially against Scotland and Namibia.
Even then, for India to qualify, Afghanistan need to beat New Zealand in their next match. If India, Afghanistan and New Zealand end up with three wins each after the group stage matches, it will boil down to their NRR. India would also hope that Afghanistan beat New Zealand by a good margin and bring their NRR by a considerable margin.
