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Updated November 8th, 2021 at 13:13 IST

ICC T20 World Cup 2021: What went wrong for Virat Kohli-led Team India?

Here are the five reasons why the Virat Kohli-led Team India failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021

Reported by: Karthik Nair
T20 World Cup 2021, Team India
Image: Twitter@T20WorldCup | Image:self
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Update: India next play Namibia in a dead-rubber contest on November 8 


Team India's ICC T20 World Cup 2021 campaign came to an abrupt end after New Zealand's eight-wicket win over Afghanistan at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday evening. By the virtue of their impressive win, the Kiwis became the fourth and final semi-finalist of this edition of the showpiece event. 

As the Indian team's wait for an elusive ICC trophy prolongs, let's find out the reason behind their early exit from the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021.

T20 World Cup 2021: Why did Team India fail to make the semis?

1. Toss: The toss has indeed proved to be a decisive factor on most occasions in the ongoing T20 World Cup. However, the coin  failed to land in the now-outgoing T20I skipper Virat Kohli's favour during Team India's first two games against arch-rivals Pakistan and New Zealand respectively. Losing the toss did prove costly for the inaugural edition's champions as they went on to lose by 10 and eight wickets respectively.

2. Opening pair's underperformance: Openers Rohit Sharma & KL Rahul were accounted by Shaheen Afridi cheaply with the new ball against Pakistan while the duo was yet again dismissed early during the must-win clash against New Zealand and even though the duo found their mojo against Afghanistan & Scotland, it was too late for Team India by that point in time.

3. India's struggle in the bowling department: The Indian bowlers failed to make an impact in the opening two matches and could only manage two wickets. While they went wicketless against Pakistan, only Jasprit Bumrah registered a couple of scalps against New Zealand.

4.  Lack of acceleration in the middle overs: Failure to accelerate in the middle overs in the first two games meant that the Men In Blue could not post competitive totals. While captain Virat Kohli did score a vital 57 against Pakistan, it turned out to be a scratchy knock as he received no support from the middle-order barring Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja to a certain extent as India somehow got to 151 with great difficulty.

In the match against New Zealand, not a single boundary was scored in 11.5 overs i.e. 71 balls as Virat Kohli & Co. could only post a below-par total of 110 which was never going to be enough against a quality side like the BlackCaps.

5. Benching Ravichandran Ashwin: Preferring new-comer Varun Chakravarthy over the senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the first two matches backfired for the Indian team as the mystery spinner went wicketless on both occasions. While R Ashwin was selected against Afghanistan and Namibia, India's semi-final qualification hopes were already hanging in the balance.

T20 World Cup semi final fixtures

2010 winners England will be facing New Zealand in the first semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 at Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Wednesday while in-form Pakistan will be locking horns with Australia in the second semi-final at Dubai International Stadium on Thursday.

India vs Namibia

The Virat Kohli-led side still have one more Super 12 game left against Namibia. Both teams will lock horns at Dubai International Stadium on Monday in what is an inconsequential clash. The Indian team will be playing for pride with the hope of finishing at the third position with a much-improved NRR (Net Run Rate) and six points to their tally. Meanwhile, this will also be Virat Kohli's last match as Team India's T20I skipper. At the same time, the contest will also mark Ravi Shastri's final assignment as the national cricket team's head coach.

The toss will take place at 19:00 hrs IST, and the kick-off time is scheduled at 19:30 hrs IST. It remains to be seen whether Virat Kohli will make any team changes as he leads Men in Blue for one last time in the shortest format of the game. 

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Published November 8th, 2021 at 11:26 IST

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