ICC World T20: India loss to New Zealand better now than later
“Chalo koi nahi baad se accha abhi haar gaye, abhi haarna zaruri tha warna chaude ho jaate ye (It’s good to lose early rather than towards business end, had India won they would have been on cloud nine),” quipped a night-walker out for his dose of smokes before dozing off.
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He didn’t wear a worried look, seemed pretty chilled out while conveying his thoughts to the seller who nodded in agreement.
Five minutes before he took off for the vendor, India had surrendered in Nagpur, trapped to put it in a better way.
The Jamtha strip was at its consistent slow, low and poor best and the hosts were outplayed, rather shocked, by New Zealand, spinners to be precise, in the World T20 opener.
‘Heavy favourites’ is what they were termed before the start of 2016’s biggest cricket extravaganza.
From captains to coaches to experts, they all labelled MS Dhoni-led unit as clear ‘favourites’ to lift the trophy.
READ: India make their own debacle
The Nagpur defeat comes as a reality check, but can they afford one?
India are placed in the ‘Group of Death’.
Every World Cup has one and this time it’s India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Australia and Bangladesh who can’t afford a complacent step in this edition.
This defeat doesn’t knock India out of the Cup or affect their chances dearly but does put the hosts under immense pressure for the upcoming fixtures.
And, upcoming fixtures are against no minnows. Pakistan next, Australia to follow before ending the group stage against Bangladesh.
READ: Batting let us down, says MS Dhoni
The result doesn’t, and shouldn’t, suggest that India would find going extremely difficult against the two neighbours and Australia.
But it does put them under some pressure.
They have missed an early step and it now will be an interesting climb to the top of the ladder.
Unlike Tests and ODIs, it isn’t fair to pinpoint mistakes since a facepalm awaits in the next game.
A Rohit Sharma or Shikhar Dhawan failure on Tuesday could well be followed by a brisk fifty in the Pakistan contest.
So where did India lose the grip? Even after keeping the visitors to a modest total.
To be honest, it started with Dhoni turning to Hardik Pandya and Ashish Nehra in the death overs.
READ: Who said what about India’s defeat, New Zealand win on Twitter
India spinners were doing a great job and Yuvraj Singh could have been a good option at that stage, especially after Jasprit Bumrah castled Corey Anderson.
Nehra conceded 15 in the last over and New Zealand posted 126, from 111 in 19. Not that those 15 runs should be blamed for India’s show but these little things play a big role in low-scoring contests on wickets like Nagpur.
New Zealand played the spin card to perfection by fielding three little-known spinners who turned it their way after poor outing with the bat.
Michell Santner, Nathan McCullum and Ish Sodhi had no ‘wow factor’ but strips like these made ordinary look extraordinary.
The 47-run defeat is India’s second on the trot, the first against South Africa in warm-ups, and it’s important the Men in Blue regroup and bounce back against the arch-rivals in the high-voltage clash at the Eden Gardens on March 19.
“Theek hai abhi hua, ab Pakistan ko dekhna hai,” assured the buyer to the seller before collecting change and heading back home.
In cricket, as they say, you are as good as your last result, and a successful outing against Pakistan is all India needs to stay alive in the tournament and the ‘heavy favourites’ fire alive.
