Why did India continue to choke in the ICC tournament since 2013?

India started the Men T20 World Campaign by losing against Pakistan and New Zealand. However, they did win against Afghanistan, Scotland, and Namibia, but, that did not qualify them for the Final ICC Trophy. India is still waiting for the Indian Men’s cricket team and hence, have not won any ICC trophies since 2013.

Reasons behind Team India’s Failure in ICC Tournaments like T20 World cup;

Hardik Pandya’s fitness:

Poorly planned batting order, misjudgement in team selection and persistence over playing an injured Hardik Pandya- are some of the factors that played a role in Team India’s defeat in T20 World Cup.

Hardik Pandya's fitness [Photo: Getty Images]

Bio Bubble Fatigue:

Most of the Indian players, including captain Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Burmah, and Rishav Pant, among others, had been on the road since June, ever since the Team reached England for the World Test Championship. Following which they were immediately transferred into a bio bubble in UAE for the ILP 2021, which definitely took a huge toll on them.

Unsettled playing XI:

India took too many risks. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma were the first choice and, the other being KL and Ishan Kisan. In a must-win game against New Zealand, Rohit Sharma was pushed to the number three spot, and Ishan Kisan opened the batting, and they lost the match by eight wickets. Hence, Virat Kohli was forced to down at 4.

Virat Kohli Captaincy:

Kohli announced his resignation as captain from T20 captaincy after the World cup. Kohli has led India in four ICC events but has only managed to attain a single title since the 2013 Champion Trophy in England and Wales.

Virat Kohli Captency [Getty Images]

Therefore, in the past seven years, India has failed to win ICC tournaments across all formats. Despite being finalists on three occasions, they have been crushed in all the crucial encounters.

India’s failure in ICC Tournament:

India Lost against Sri Lankan in 2014 T20 World cup final:

Every Indian Fan expected MS Dhoni to bring back home the T20 trophy after eight years since the 2007 World Cup, but Sri Lankan bowler Nuwan Kulasekara did not let it happen. India was 130 for 4 in the final in Dhaka; hence Sri Lankan became champion in the shortest format.

[Photo: Reuters]

India lost against Australia in the 2015 World cup Semi-final:

MS Dhoni’s last world cup as an Indian captain, and he saw his team outside. Steve Smith’s extraordinary hundred made Australia into the finals, and India lost by 95 runs.

India lost against West Indies 2016 T20 world cup semi-final:

India gave a challenging target of 193 runs, but it was Carlos Brathwaite who have shattered India’s hope and took west indies a 7-wicket win

India lost against Pakistan in 2017 ICC Champions Trophy:

The ICC tournaments was very crucial, especially for Kohli as an Indian captain. The Indian team had a terrific run as they went face-to-face with their arch-rivals Pakistan in the finals. But to everyone’s surprise, Burmah’s infamous no-ball allowed Fakhar Zaman to score a hundred after Pakistan set a 399 in the replay, India bowled out for just 158 runs.

India lost ICC world cup 2019 semi-final against New Zealand on England at lords:

It was MS Dhoni’s last ODI in the Indian colour as a captain. New Zealand scored 239 for 8, but India went top order, only to collapse and lose by 18 runs.

[Photo: AP]

India loses World Test Championship final against New Zealand 2021:

India managed to score 139 runs target for kiwis. But Captain Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson batted skilfully and took the game by eight wickets and emerged victorious. Hence, India’s tailender failed to score runs and they lost a major World Test Championship.

According to Australian Captain Steve Waugh’s statement to PTI, it is not easy to win an ICC tournament, the standards of cricket have risen extremely high but, the same cannot be said for mental health. Therefore, India must hold their nerves as they are crashing in the knockout stages of ICC tournaments because to the other team it’s just a sport. Furthermore, he added that Indian fans need to have patience as it is only a matter of time for a team as promising and capable as India to start winning big tournaments like ICC World Cups.

Therefore, BCCI must take the UAE mishap as a lesson and introspect on why India failed to qualify in the last ICC Tournament.

 Author: 

Soumyajeet Dutta

(The article contains author's opinion)