Indian team failed to qualify for the semifinals of ICC World T20 for the third consecutive time despite winning four of the five matches they played. Unlike in England or the West Indies where they failed miserably, this time they went out even after playing decent cricket.

Indian team won two out of their three Super Eight matches, and so did the other three teams who have qualified for the semis, with Sri Lanka winning all their three matches. So, to say India were unlucky will be a bit unfair to other teams. Indian were clobbered in their match against Australia and that was the main reason India got left behind in terms of net run-rate.

Indians were lucky that they were playing the last Super Eight match, so they knew what they had to do to qualify. So blaming the result on other factors will be wrong. Indian team knew what they had to do and they failed in that and that is the only reason why the men in blue are not in the semifinals.

The tournament on the whole saw some impressive performances from Indian players and some pretty ordinary ones. Let’s have a look at some of the hits and flops in this World Cup from the Indian team.

Hits:

Virat Kohli: He was the player of the tournament for India. Kohli played a massive role in India’s success. In the two matches in which he didn’t score, India lost won and failed to reach their goal in the second. Kohli was in tears after the India-South Africa match and that shows how disappointed he was despite being one of the best batsmen in the tournament. He scored 185 runs at an average of 46.25.

R Ashwin: He was the best bowler for India in this tournament. Ashwin looked dangerous and bowled very well apart from the game against Australia. Ashwin has been the best bowler for India in the recent times and he once again proved his worth. He took five wickets in the tournament at an economy rate of 6.

Yuvraj Singh: He made a dream comeback into the Indian squad and performed brilliantly. People doubted his inclusion in the Indian team but he shut everyone with his performance in the tournament. Yuvraj couldn’t do much with the bat, but he looked good in the short innings he played. With the ball, Yuvraj was very impressive, he took eight wickets and his economy rate was only 5.9. He also looked good in the field.

L Balaji: He was making a comeback into the Indian team after a long time and what a comeback this was. Balaji was very effective with his slower balls and his cutters and did well in almost all the games he played. He performed far better than his fancied teammates. He was the highest wicket taker for India with nine wickets.

Flops:

Indian openers: Both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were disappointing throughout the tournament and that was a major setback for the Indian team. Gambhir looked out of form and struggled against the pace bowlers. He scored only 80 runs in five innings at an average of 16.

Sehwag on the other hand batted irresponsibly, he got starts but did not capitalize on them. He played horrible shots to get out and ended up scoring only 54 runs in three innings.

Zaheer Khan: If the Indian openers disappointed with the bat than it was Zaheer Khan who was the biggest disappointment with the ball. He looked ordinary in all the matches and crumbled under pressure. The three wickets he took in the tournament all came in the last match against SA and apart from that he has nothing to show. He also was very expensive in the tournament.

MS Dhoni’s captaincy: Dhoni performed well as a batsmen but he was pretty ordinary with his leadership. Indian team has failed to qualify for the semis for the third consecutive time and the captain just can’t blame the rain for India’s failure to reach the last four this time around. Dhoni knew the equation in the last match but it looked as if he was going for a win and not to qualify. First he did not pick a spinner on a pitch which favoured the spinners. He sent Rohit Sharma ahead of Yuvraj Singh and the move back-fired. While defending, he bowled Rohit Sharma ahead of his main spinner R Ashwin and that was a negative move. Zaheer for once was looking good but he held him for a bit too late.

By Indian Sports News Network