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Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri’s tenure came to a bittersweet end as India bowed out of the T20 World Cup 2021 at the Super 12 stage. The Virat Kohli-led team suffered two comprehensive losses which were too lethal to recover from despite big wins in the rest of three matches. Looking back at the two losses, Shastri believes that India lacked the “daring” against the Kiwis as they were outclassed in every department of the game.
The 1983 World Cup-winning member also pointed out that against Pakistan they had a decent score on the board but in the Kiwi clash they did not have enough runs to make a game out of.
"I think Pakistan, we got the runs on the board. But against New Zealand we didn't have the daring. That doesn't mean we didn't give steel, that can't disappear one day. We are talking of steel over the last five six years that has made this team one of the greats to have played the game across formats.
"We lacked the daring and that can happen when you are fatigued mentally. When you look at the amount of time these boys have spent in a bubble, it can happen there, like it happened against New Zealand.
"You need that spark, that x-factor to kick in, and it doesn't. This is not an excuse, but it didn't happen that day. I'll put my hand up and say we lacked the daring in that game against New Zealand," Shastri told India Today in an exclusive interview.
While India have not won a major ICC trophy under Shastri’s tenure, the former all-rounder has no regrets as he believes that the players have been “overachievers”, especially in the Test format.
