When India lost to England in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022, everyone in India was emotionally hurt and angry. Suddenly experts started blaming each one of the team members and supporting staff for the unceremonious exit of the tournament in the semi-final stage.
India lost the match in the 16th overs without taking a wicket of England’s team or saying it was a one-sided game. Was our team incompetent? Did they commit mistakes? Is India an overrated team? Let us analyze this impartially.
Before that let us note that senior players like Rohit Sharma, Ashwin. Karthik and even Virat Kohli knew that this would be their last T20 WC. Rohit is 35 years old, Kohli is 34 years old, R Ashwin is 36 years old and Dinesh Kartik is 37 years old. The next T20 will be after two years and most possibly all of these players will be out of the T20I squad because of age.
That means they are more eager to win the cup than any of the Indian cricket fans. They tried their best but somehow failed. That would have hurt them more than any other. One can realize their emotion when they had tried to hide their tears. We should not be so cruel in harshly criticizing them.
Now was our team overrated? The answer is no. India is constantly number one in the ICC ranking for a couple of years. That means India is playing well consistently. So, one loss should not take away their credibility. This T20 Cup was interesting where in Semi-final four teams of ICC ranking 1, 2, 3, and 5 reached. South Africa is the fourth-ranked team that could not reach the semi-final.
The first semi-final was between Pakistan (3rd rank) and New Zealand (rank 5) where Pakistan won. The second semi-final was between India (Rank-1) and England (Rank-2) and England won. Sometimes from Rank-1 to rank five teams when playing against each other, any team can win on its day. That is what happened during the second semi-final.
India was unlucky on that day. If India won the toss and chose to bowl, then it could have chased down any target set by England. On the other hand, if India could have got a wicket or two, then it could have defended the score of 168. The same England team lost to Ireland while chasing.
Point to be noted that almost the same team of India defeated England in England 2-1 in the T-20I series last July 2022. I am sure if there will be another match at any place in the globe, the same Indian team will win against England.
Many have cited that the team management, coach, and captain taken wrong decisions for which India lost. That’s really unkind of us. We have selected the captain, coach, and other supporting staff considering that they are the best for those jobs.
Taking decisions is their job and they took what they felt was best for the team. Yet you can lose a game on a day if you are unlucky. India has played brilliantly throughout the tournament and we should cherish that.
So, we must be mature enough as cricket fans and must defend our heroes. I know there will be a change in the T20 squad in a preparation for the 2024 T20 WC. Many seniors will now focus on the 2023 ODI World Cup and the 2023 Test championship. They need our support and we should support them heartfully.