[harry10]

Originally Posted by AtheK

England was 47/3 after first 10 overs (almost like India) and they finished with 163/4 , that is 116 runs added in last 10 overs. Morgan struggled but did sweat it out and provided good support to butler, who himself struggled initially and then opened up. Indian team should see this again and again, who had no application and played like headless chickens. England might win or lose, but at least the fans won’t mock them, they played a great first innings.

Everyone saying wicket is slow and Indian player struggled should see this innings too, England surely is a strong contender for the quality of cricket they are playing.

Even Sri Lanka lost 3 wickets within PP.

And what does another batsman do coming after the loss of 3rd wicket. He hits a 6 in the very next over to make sure Run rate stays in check. If it was India losing 3 early wickets they will be doing tuk tuk till 17th over.

Even now after losing 5 wickets they are hitting boundaries to make sure there is a chance of winning.

This Indian T20 team needs a complete overhaul just like England who did it after 2015 debacle.

[VWAllstar]

Look at the on going match. Even if SL loses this, they are showing such good fighting spirit. This is the same team we mocked by sending our supposedly A team to play.

There is something awful about the way Indian Cricket Team is being selected, captained & coached.

[Oxy]

I am very happy with the way we have performed in test cricket recently, but both of our games in this event have been so shockingly bad it's incredible. Losing is fine, but such meek surrender isn't. Atleast try to win, even that basic effort doesn't seem to be there.

I just hope Kohli steps down from the ODI captaincy as well pronto, else the 2023 world cup in front of our home crowd is going to end up in an even bigger disappointment.

[AtheK]

And England wins defending like a boss, fielding in particular was amazing. This team looks like the team to beat along with Pakistan. Two have been stand out till now.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by AtheK

And England wins defending like a boss, fielding in particular was amazing. This team looks like the team to beat along with Pakistan. Two have been stand out till now.

Even South Africa have done decently so far. I am hoping Aussies too raise their game a bit as they do in world cups everytime. That will be fun to watch.

[pandey.jai]

I see some reports of Bumrah coming out and saying that the team is tired and has bubble fatigue. I wonder why this is coming now and not before the tournament started? And why not choose to skip some games in the IPL, assuming they prefer playing for India than the IPL. Or if they’d rather play IPL, then let the selectors know that they won’t be available for the WC?

I’m sure bubble fatigue is not something that happened after two horrendous performances.

[KPR]

Oh I see there is a game for tomorrow against Afghanistan! Eagerly waiting for our action king Mr. Kohli and his abuses, roars on field against Afghanistan. Hope my favourite team for tomorrow wins and Rashid gets MoM award for the winning performance.

[NPV]

The T20 game on the kind of pitches like in the UAE for example favour the team winning the toss and chasing. And the game is so heavily loaded against the bowlers as it is with the 6 overs of powerplay fielding restrictions. Is it time to make some rule tweaks to balance the game ? Reduce powerplay to 4 overs ? The elephant in the room is the toss, how can that be addressed ?

Originally Posted by KPR

Oh I see there is a game for tomorrow against Afghanistan! Eagerly waiting for our action king Mr. Kohli and his abuses, roars on field against Afghanistan.

Captaincy in T20 aside, let's not forget that Kohli played a big role in the 2012 and 2016 World cups and was instrumental in wins against Pakistan too.
Right now, we do not seem to have a single player who can single handedly win the game for us when in a tricky/crunch situation.
I think we badly need Kohli the batsman who has done that for us in the past, so once captaincy burden is off his shoulders, I hope he gets back to that form and role.

[hothatchaway]

Originally Posted by KPR

Oh I see there is a game for tomorrow against Afghanistan! Eagerly waiting for our action king Mr. Kohli and his abuses, roars on field against Afghanistan. Hope my favourite team for tomorrow wins and Rashid gets MoM award for the winning performance.

OT - Please be careful about coming out openly in support of any other team but India. Times are such that your patriotism could be questioned basis who you support on the cricket field

I think the cricketers are getting a disproportionate share of the blame for the current debacle. They earn their bread from the sport, so what are they to do when the parent association, BCCI in this case, is single-mindedly devoted to making money? Hell, they even short terminated a full fledged pre scheduled test series against a premier cricket playing nation just so that there is no threat to their franchise tournament! The current president is a former captain. Surely he is not unaware of the stress of playing non stop competitive sport.

I don't think this trend is going to change anytime soon. The real losers are the Indian fans, especially those who have been supporting the national side well before the advent of IPL

[harry10]

Originally Posted by KPR

Oh I see there is a game for tomorrow against Afghanistan! Eagerly waiting for our action king Mr. Kohli and his abuses, roars on field against Afghanistan. Hope my favourite team for tomorrow wins and Rashid gets MoM award for the winning performance.

I don't get it.
Yes, out team played badly and lost first 2 games. But, that doesn't mean we start supporting other teams against them. I really like Afganistan team and always support them but never against us. We can ridicule the players and the captain as much as we want cos they actually deserve it but we can't abandon them when they are down. I know India is out of the cup and that's their own fault.

Btw, Rashid is my favourite player in world cricket right now but I don't want him to win Player of match tomorrow

Edit- IPL gets unwarranted hate. We can't blame IPL for players bad performance. England had The Hundred and NatWest before World cup. Pakistan had PSL. Aussies have BBL. Every country has their own league now. They still are doing good in this World cup barring India. So, issue is somewhere else.

[SoumenD]

This is probably India's worst outing in a WC tournament this century along with the 2007 outing. Call me an optimist but here's how I am seeing it now, or rather say hoping.

2007 ODI WC we crashed out spectacularly in 1st round and next edition we went on to win the Cup in 2011

Hope this shameful exit gives the team some much needed motivation to come back and show what they are made of in the next one which is scheduled just next year. Too optimistic? Yeah I know, but what the hell. I back my team

[Emvi]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

I think the cricketers are getting a disproportionate share of the blame for the current debacle. They earn their bread from the sport, so what are they to do when the parent association, BCCI in this case, is single-mindedly devoted to making money? Hell, they even short terminated a full fledged pre scheduled test series against a premier cricket playing nation just so that there is no threat to their franchise tournament! The current president is a former captain. Surely he is not unaware of the stress of playing non stop competitive sport.

Spot on!
The machinery(read BCCI) is the one that needs to be blamed, not the players. Players are just humans after all and not machines which unfortunately and surprisingly the machinery doesn't seem to comprehend.

[VW2010]

They still are doing good in this World cup barring India. So, issue is somewhere else.

Team performance is a reflection of what's happening at the top. It was a poor decision to announce retirement even before doing something in the tournament, an even poorer decision to change coaching staff, and supporting staff just before a big tournament, and more. Kohli is not a T20 player. There are better T20 players who can fill that slot. Kohli is a fantastic ODI and Test player but a very poor T20 player. The team will fail when you play a tournament to satisfy one person's ego whose ego is hurt with Dhoni coming in to help him win tournaments on the big stage. He should have stepped down before the tournament. What is Dhoni doing in the dressing room, god only knows. I am still not sure if this team represents India or BCCI.

The players hardly have any passion for playing for the nation. Hardik playing for the country is the biggest mystery. Maybe he has a better brand value on Instagram and that's how we chose players.

[am1m]

It seems like the toss is playing a huge part in these games, so not entirely fair to blame teams for some of the losses.

Happy to see that losing to Pakistan is not being made out to be a national tragedy. I see that as a positive- we have more good things going for us as a nation and real achievements to be proud of as a country so that our self-esteem need no longer hinge on a game or even a tournament. Former players and their silly twitter 'wars' are just to rake up some publicity for themselves now that they are no longer people of any consequence and for media outlets to get some eyeballs, clicks. Best ignored.

Also great to see that most people are able to disassociate cricket and patriotism, and differentiate between jingoism and patriotism. The small-minded few that can't are certainly fewer these days, but just more vocal. Again, best ignored.

Kohli the batsman was never in doubt. We need him as the destructive, dominating winner that he is (and I say this as someone who finds his on-field antics ridiculous and unnecessary, am not a fan). But Kohli the captain- I hope at least now he and the team management see that he is no longer the best choice for the job. The new captain, with Dravid should be able to chart out a new course for the future.

The IPL, again as someone who doesn't like or even follow the IPL- I've found my opinions turning or maturing I guess. It's easy to blame the IPL and say why can't players skip it if they are worried about fatigue. But how many of us would skip the most lucrative contract in our careers that easily? Especially when our career window could be as short as 5-10 years? Not an easy choice.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Team performance is a reflection of what's happening at the top. It was a poor decision to announce retirement even before doing something in the tournament, an even poorer decision to change coaching staff, and supporting staff just before a big tournament, and more. Kohli is not a T20 player. There are better T20 players who can fill that slot. Kohli is a fantastic ODI and Test player but a very poor T20 player. The team will fail when you play a tournament to satisfy one person's ego whose ego is hurt with Dhoni coming in to help him win tournaments on the big stage. He should have stepped down before the tournament. What is Dhoni doing in the dressing room, god only knows. I am still not sure if this team represents India or BCCI.

The players hardly have any passion for playing for the nation. Hardik playing for the country is the biggest mystery. Maybe he has a better brand value on Instagram and that's how we chose players.

I think it was a brilliant decision to announce giving up Captaincy before the tournament. He knows he needs to concentrate completely back to his batting. Anyways that's an individual choice. Dhoni gave up Captaincy in between an important Australian tour and no one bat an eyelid.

Kohli has an average of 52 and strike rate of 138 in T20 internationals. Even against Pakistan if he wouldn't have stood up we would have folded under 100. Do tell how is that a poor T20 player?

Just for reference-
Rohit- Avg - 31, SR- 138
Rahul- Avg - 38, SR - 141
Pant - Avg - 22, SR - 122
Hardik - Avg - 19, SR - 141
Jadeja - Avg - 17, SR - 114

So, who is better than Kohli in this team?
Not counting SKY or Ishan as they are very new with very few matches.

As for support staff and Coach, there contract was up and BCCI had to fill the posts before NZ series start.

The main problem with this T20 team is they don't play much together as a unit. In most T20 series kohli or Rohit are resting or new players are given chances. And then there is age old selection issue. Dropped Chahal cos he wasn't performing since long and brought back Ashwin for experience and then don't play him in both crucial matches. Rohit and Rahul opening partnership was disturbed to accomodate Ishan who could have played at 4.

Siraj, Harshal and even Deepak chahar who were in top form weren't included in team but Shami who has never been a good T20 bowler and Bhuvi who hasn't been himself in couple of years were selected. Result, only Bumrah is bowling well and others getting a stick. Even Thakur who has been good in most matches wasn't played at start. Hardik who has done nothing with bat in long time and who everyone knew won't bowl was played. Absolute stupidity. Axar Patel who has been good both for India and IPL was sent back from main squad to reserves.

No wonder this team lost badly with all this drama.

On a Side note I hope selectors aren't thinking of making Rohit captain now. He has been below average with bat since sometime and age isn't on his side. We need someone young for T20 Captaincy just like in 2007 we chose the young Dhoni. Maybe a Shreyas Iyer or a Rishabh Pant who are aggressive players and thinkers.

Edit -
KL Rahul has is expected to Captain for NZ series. His Captaincy with Punjab was quite poor but I hope he does well with India.