India has to win the World Cup, Day 18: Did Team India really play the South Africa match to win?

Delhi: The impact of the defeat to South Africa in Ahmedabad in the T20 World Cup is so much that the post-mortem is going on. This is such a defeat which puts a question mark on the campaign like ‘India has to win the T20 World Cup’. Before this match, there was a lot of talk about the advantage that South Africa got from the experience at the Narendra Modi Stadium and that was indeed the case. David Miller also said, ‘I love playing at Narendra Modi Stadium. I have some great memories of playing here with Gujarat Titans. It’s a fantastic ground and the atmosphere is fantastic.

How is the Indian team remembering this stadium? India won 10 matches in the 2023 ODI World Cup and lost the final in Ahmedabad. After this, won two ICC trophies without losing a single match. In this World Cup, won 4 consecutive matches and this streak again ended in Ahmedabad. The black soil of Narendra Modi Stadium does not suit the Indian team. At the same time, more than the ground, the failure to play according to the pitch and conditions is causing the most damage. There should be a plan for every opposing team and there should be no overconfidence and carelessness.

The road ahead will be even more difficult because West Indies also have good spinners and Indian batsmen are not able to play spin. The next match is with Zimbabwe and this is a team which is coming into the match with a lot of enthusiasm after defeating the strong Australians and Sri Lankans. If you don’t make any misconceptions about how they played in the match with West Indies, they will be in advantage.

The current situation is that now, unless both the remaining matches are won by a big margin, it will be very difficult to reach the semi-finals. This does not at all mean that there is doubt on Team India’s ability to go further. Perhaps a ‘wake up alarm’ was all that was needed and this alarm has gone off. Still, the margin of defeat is a big blow which can be troubling, especially if the three teams have equal points.

This defeat has started a discussion on social media about the lack of character and honor in Team India. The generation of cricket lovers who grew up watching Sachin, Rahul, Dada, Kumble and then Dhoni, does not see the same humility and decency in today’s cricketers.

Sunil Gavaskar’s statement ‘added fuel to the fire’ in this thinking. Gavaskar says, the over-confident Indian team needs to leave its ego and play according to the conditions. They say that India should learn from South Africa’s innings. In fact, the Indian batsman had to play the way Brewis and Miller established their partnership. Did not do this and lost wickets due to overconfidence in strokes on every ball. India itself lost this match and South Africa defeated them clearly.

Is Team India ready to learn from the opposing team? The team should note how South Africa managed to score well even on such a difficult pitch. For this, Team India will have to leave its ‘ego’, ‘study’ their game and play accordingly.

So will Team India now win against Zimbabwe and West Indies for semi-final qualification?

Fun Fact:

* The decision to remove Akshar Patel from the team despite being the vice-captain will always be in discussion in Indian cricket. Two such occasions when Team India removed its vice-captain from the playing eleven:

1. After the match against Australia in the 1992 World Cup, Ravi Shastri was dropped for the remaining tournament and Ajay Jadeja was replaced.

2. In the first two Tests against South Africa in Cape Town and Centurion in 2018, he dropped vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and played Rohit Sharma.

* Do you know how much the teams will have traveled in this T20 World Cup as per the schedule till the end of the Super 8 round:

India: 10432 kilometers

West Indies: 8297 kilometers

England: 4486 kilometers

Zimbabwe: 5776 kilometers

New Zealand: 4475 kilometers

South Africa: 2958 kilometers

Sri Lanka: 770 kilometers

Pakistan: 154 kilometers

What was the benefit of being the main host of the World Cup?

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