T20 World Cup | New Zealand hand India another hammering, leave Kohli's army on brink of early exit

Just two games into the tournament and the Team India have become a jaded and inept cricket team from a formidable one and one of the hottest favourites to lift the ICC T20 World Cup trophy for the second time.

After all, what they didn’t have? They came with a start-studded batting lineup with equally good players sitting on the bench, they had the best bowler in the format in Jasprit Bumrah, they had a well-rounded spin bowling attack to play all sorts of matchups with oppositions. 

Yet, as the game has been serving on numerous occasions and on a time to time basis, it served them a harsh reminded that it is played on a particular day and that the winner is decided not based on merit and promise on paper, but on performances and execution on the field.

The problem of plenty—plenty of problems for Kohli

The men in blue had to make a forced change in their playing XI from the last game as Suryakumar Yadav missed the last game due to injury and it opened the door for Ishan Kishan.

The left-hander had said before the world cup that Virat Kohli has said to him that he is an opener in India’s scheme of things and the words were kept by the skipper.

Earlier this year, against England, Kohli had talked about opening the innings with Rohit Sharma as KL Rahul was horribly out of form. Months later, as Rahul regained his form, it was tough for him to overlook Rahul and there went the move to bat at the top.

However, with Suryakumar’s injury, the revolving door got opened once again as he prepared Kishan over Rohit and basically India tried their fourth opening combination of Kishan and Rahul.

Not quite “brave” enough

The move can’t be called out as India would have banked on Kishan to provide a berserk start, something that has become a signature for him in the IPL, and then for the likes of Rahul, Rohit and Kohli to cash in on it.

It wasn’t to be though as Trent Boult kept him guessing throughout the first over with subtle variations in seam position and lengths and India could not go big straight away. His partner Tim Southee bowled hard length from the other end and as Kohli described in the post-match presentation, India, especially, KL Rahul wasn’t brave enough to hit him off his length.

The duo allowed New Zealanders to settle their nerves before the left-hander tried to break free. Neither he nor Rahul looked in good touch and unlikely for the left-hander, a well-timed pickup shot off Boult found Daryl Mitchell perfectly at long leg and the experiment failed.

Kohli had more surprise up his sleeves as he sent Rohit at number three ahead of him and the phenomenon of not being “brave” carried on with them. The duo allowed Mitchell Santer to bowl an over for just two runs in powerplay while not attempting to go down the track or put pressure on him.

The effect of that inept approach was telling but Adam Milnes released a lot of those pressure. However, the honeymoon was short-lived and as Southee ended Rahul’s misery, India were back to square one having not scored runs in fear of losing wickets and then actually losing both their openers

Apart from that Milne’s over, Rohit appeared to be a pale shadow of himself and Kane Williamson played the matchup game brilliantly to end any chance of magic from both Rohit and Kohli.

New Zealand’s spin twins

Indian batsmen are deemed to be the master of spin bowlers but that has been limited only in the narrative as there is significant evidence to prove otherwise.

In their last encounter against New Zealand in T20 World Cup in 2016, India were deflated by a New Zealand bowling lineup comprising Ish Sodhi, Nathan McCullum and Mitchell Santner.

Two of them are still there and wreaking havoc among Indians for reasons known only to the Indian batsmen. Santner used the nature of the pitch brilliantly and did not bowl a single ball in batsmen’s arc to allow the opportunity to get under deliveries while Sodhi used the game situations in his favour.

Rohit was done in by a short ball that hurried onto him while Kohli was dismissed while attempting to play a highly unusual shot for him in a clear sign of desperation. 

Sodhi and Santner just choked the Indian batting unit for runs and provided a mere 32 runs from their eight overs while picking the big wickets of Kohli and Rohit. Trent Boult was the most successful bowler in terms of the number of wickets but the impact Santner left on the game can be downplayed by any scorecard.

Blackcaps batsmen show India’s stars damning mirror

When the New Zealand opening pair of Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell walked out to bat, they looked settled with their nerves. To be fair to Indian bowlers though, they never had enough and only the sheer quality of Jasprit Bumrah could pose some sort of challenge for them.

Guptill was making room and carting Bumrah over the infield and the Indian top order, especially, KL Rahul would have had a really damning reflection of his batting against their bowlers.

Mitchell was more attacking and he was not in the mood to have any mercy on the Indian bowling attack and calmness on the field.

Both on paper and in terms of what qualities they bring to the table, Ravindra Jadeja would be far head of Santer in terms of being a left-arm spinner, but the way he was treated by Mitchell and the way Rohit and Rahul respected Santner clearly drew a line on which side played the game with full of intent and aggression and which played the game with quite a timid mind.