I suppose I am a little bit of all those things – Disappointed, Angry, Sad, Proud – but not too much so. The New Zealanders surprised us with their talent and tenacity and were worthy winners of the first semifinal of CWC 2019. The Indian team has to acknowledge that all the swagger and the swashbuckling talent count for nothing if we cannot hold it together in the crunch games.
While Virat Kohli is not wrong in saying that this loss was a bad day at the office, there have been flaws in Indian cricket that have been plain to see for a long time. Firstly, there is no settled No. 4 batsman but three number sixes! Many experts believe that the power centres of the team reside in the captain and coach while the selectors don’t have the stature or power that they should. All this cost us.
It wasn’t just the dejection of losing a semifinal – bearing the burden of the disappointment of crores of fans is perhaps a weightier one for the players to bear.
People recall the under 19 World Cup where India and New Zealand faced off; more particularly Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson faced off. People now seek to pin blame on whatever and whoever they feel should bear the blame.
There were, of course, all the armchair experts who pompously extrapolated on how Dhoni should have played faster, that he was responsible for batsmen getting out at the other end and ultimately responsible for the loss. However, most Indian fans had the grace to recognise that it was his insight, experience and ability to play according to the situation that got us as far as we did. As one tweet mentioned, “Sachin was the next Gavaskar. Kohli is the next Sachin. But there can never be another Dhoni”
The first three batsmen departed making one run each. Though Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya did chip in with 32 runs each, their strike rates were poor – just about 50.
It fell to Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja to steady the innings and get it from a shocking 5/3 and 24/4 to a scoreboard that read 207/6 before Jadeja was out and the scoreboard read 208/7.
A billion people may be sending out their thoughts and prayers but clearly that did not work.
We can all analyse it to the death, but the simple fact of the matter is that the top order folded and the rest couldn’t take the pressure.
So sad!
We simply ran out of batting in the end.
While some Pakistani fans seemed to be indulging in some retaliatory Schadenfreude, many tweeted their support for the Indian team and Dhoni in particular.
When Sanjay Manjrekar tweeted “well played Jadeja” there were many who attacked him – we all know about the history of that one.
People were angry, disappointed, feeling let down – understandable. But attacking a commentator mainly for the wink emoji that they saw as hugely inappropriate? Overreaction to say the least!
Many of us wished for rain – a rained out match would have propelled India into the final.
While some call for the captain to be held accountable and others want heads to roll in the coaching and selection departments, this is how most Indians feel: thank you for the cricket. Well played, but it wasn’t your day.
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