New Zealand thrashed India by 47 runs in the opening game of the ICC T20 World Cup on Tuesday night in Nagpur.
As sensational performance from the Kiwi spinners left Indian batsmen clueless on a low, cracky, sharp-turning Nagpur wicket, the host’s fight ended in 18.1 overs, for just 79 runs. India was chasing a modest target of 127.
Match Highlights:
As Indian cricket fans deal with this disappointment, here are the 3 reasons why the tournament ‘favourites’ lost their first match against New Zealand.
1. Over-confidence
India, who boasts of a formidable batting line-up, with the likes of Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh failed miserably against Kiwi spinners.
Here’s their score:
- Shikhar Dhawan – 1 run
- Suresh Raina – 1 run
- Rohit Sharma - 5 runs
- Virat Kohli – 23 runs
- MS Dhoni - 30 runs
- Yuvraj Singh – 4 runs
- Ravindra Jadeja – 0 runs
It was India’s lowest score ever in T20 cricket. Indan skipper M S Dhoni conceded that it was the poor performance of the batsmen to blame.
2. Unable to deal with Kiwi spinners
NZ captain Kane Williamson’s decision to drop experienced fast bowlers like Time Southee and Trent Boult paid off when the selected spinners wreaked havoc on the Indian side.
Here’s how they fared:
- Mitchell Santner – 4 wickets in 4 overs
- Ish Sodhi – 3 wickets in 4 overs
- Nathan McCullum – 2 wickets in overs
3. Failing to adapt to pitch conditions
India started the game on a good note, restricting New Zealand at 126. Many felt it was an ‘achievable’ target for a team like India, who has lately been in great form after consecutive wins in T20 series against Australia and Bangladesh.
But as the Indian captain pointed out post-match, the Indian team failed to adapt to pitch conditions. “I think it was a low scoring wicket. I thought we restricted them to a good total, but the batting let us down. The shot selection kept putting pressure on the batsmen coming in,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The pitch conditions came under lot of criticism from cricket experts.
With this unexpected defeat, cup favourites India will be under tremendous pressure when they face arch-rivals Pakistan, super-strong Australia and ever surprising Bangladesh.
