babar: Virat Kohli showed his class today: Babar Azam

Babar Azam has often been compared to Virat Kohli. Without a doubt, both are the leading batsmen of world cricket.

But on Sunday, even the Pakistan captain was in awe of Kohli, who registered India’s memorable win in the T20 World Cup at the MCG.

Kohli’s inspiring batting was the difference between the two sides.

After the loss, Babar said, “Our bowlers did a great job in the first 10 overs. Credit to Virat and Hardik, the way they finished the game.”

But when that discussion turned to Kohli, Babar was stunned in his praise.

“Virat Kohli showed his class today. It was a close game and people enjoyed it.”

Winning the pressure game after a lean patch of three years will boost Kohli’s morale, agreed Babar.

“Pakistan vs India are always a game of extra pressure and the sooner you can get away with it, the better. So he is a big player, he was under pressure and he got over it and then built his innings. The way they built the partnership was the turning point,” said the Pakistani captain.

“This innings must have given him a lot of confidence and when you win games like these, you feel good mentally,” he added.

Bringing Nawaz in the 20th over

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The question was inevitable as to why left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz was brought in in the 20th over and the fast bowlers’ quota of overs was already exhausted.

“When the partnership (Kohli-Pandya) was building, we needed to take wickets and I thought of bringing in my main bowler and creating pressure.

“But the plan was not working out the way I would have thought. He (Nawaz) will learn from it and the next time he faces a situation like this, he will realize what he needs to do.”

We need to get over the disappointment quickly

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Babar was very clear that he could not mourn the loss as the tournament had just begun.

“We will be confident. We will learn from this loss. Some good things happened and some mistakes happened. We will discuss and it is just the beginning of the tournament and we have a lot of games left.

“The sooner we recover from it the better. We have back-to-back matches and we need to focus on that.”

Originally published at Pen 18

ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Arch-rivals India, Pakistan set for high-voltage clash in Melbourne – The Economic Times Video

Almost two months after winning one match each in the Asia Cup, another high-voltage clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan will take place on Sunday, this time in the ICC T20 World Cup. A lot is at stake for both the sides as they look to start their campaign at the prestigious Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday.

Originally published at Pen 18

ronaldo: Cristiano Ronaldo and the long walk

मैनचेस्टर यूनाइटेड की शुरुआती टीम पहले दिखाई दी, शाम के लिए अपने प्रतिद्वंद्वी टोटेनहम हॉटस्पर के साथ ओल्ड ट्रैफर्ड में कंधे से कंधा मिलाकर चलते हुए। इसके बाद विकल्प आए, फ्लोरोसेंट ट्रेनिंग बिब और पानी की बोतलों को पकड़कर, इसके बाद कोचों की दो छोटी सेनाएं, सहायक कोच और सहायक कोच आए।

तभी, एक बार जब खिलाड़ी लाइन में लग गए, प्रतिस्थापन ने अपनी सीट ले ली थी और संबंधित कोचिंग स्टाफ ने अपने क्षेत्र का दावा किया था, क्या क्रिस्टियानो रोनाल्डो मिडफील्डर स्कॉट मैकटोमिन के पीछे एक-दो गज की दूरी पर चल रहे थे। यह वृत्ति से हो सकता है या यह डिजाइन द्वारा हो सकता है, लेकिन उस क्षण के लिए कैमरा उसके लिए कठोर रूप से खींचा गया था।

ऐसा नहीं है कि इसके लिए बहुत बहाने की जरूरत है। चार मिनट बाद, जैसे ही खेल अपने पैटर्न में व्यवस्थित हो रहा था, स्क्रीन के केंद्र में स्थानापन्न बेंच पर रोनाल्डो फिर से थे। यह इस सीज़न के लिए उनके लिए एक परिचित भूमिका बन गई है: खेल के इतिहास में बेहतरीन खिलाड़ियों में से एक, स्टेडियम में सबसे महत्वपूर्ण दर्शक के रूप में कम हो गया।

कड़ाई से बोलते हुए, यह ध्यान देने योग्य नहीं होना चाहिए। पिछले अधिकांश सीज़न के लिए, ओल्ड ट्रैफर्ड में अपने दूसरे स्पेल में से पहला, रोनाल्डो व्यक्तिगत उपलब्धि और सामूहिक सफलता के बीच संतुलन के बारे में एक मामूली सम्मोहक बहस – शुरू में, वैसे भी – के लिए प्रेरणा और विषय थे।

उन्होंने गोल किए, और उनमें से बहुत से – अकेले प्रीमियर लीग में 30 खेलों में 18, कुछ दूरी से क्लब में सबसे अधिक विपुल – लेकिन कई बार उनकी उपस्थिति पहले ओले गुन्नार सोलस्कर और फिर राल्फ रंगनिक के प्रयासों को बाधित करने वाली लगती थी। अधिक आधुनिक, गतिशील संवेदनशीलता वाली टीम। ऐसे में उनके योगदान का आकलन कैसे किया जाए? क्या रोनाल्डो को शामिल करने के लिए लक्ष्य औचित्य थे, या इलाज के साथ भ्रमित होने का कारण था?

यह महीनों के लिए बहुतायत से स्पष्ट है जहां युनाइटेड के वर्तमान प्रबंधक एरिक टेन हाग उस विशेष पहेली पर खड़े हैं। वह सार्वजनिक रूप से रोनाल्डो की प्रशंसा करते रहे हैं – खेल पर उनकी स्थायी विरासत और उनकी चल रही उपयोगिता दोनों के संदर्भ में – लेकिन उनके शब्दों को उनके कार्यों से डूब गया है।

रोनाल्डो ने इस सीजन में सिर्फ दो प्रीमियर लीग गेम्स शुरू किए हैं। पहले में ब्रेंटफोर्ड के खिलाफ हाफटाइम में 4-0 से नीचे होना शामिल था। दूसरा न्यूकैसल के खिलाफ गतिरोध में समाप्त हुआ। इसके बजाय उन्होंने अपना अधिकांश समय यूरोपा लीग में ओमोनिया निकोसिया, शेरिफ तिरस्पोल और रियल सोसिदाद का सामना करने में बिताया। कुछ लोगों ने इसकी बुद्धिमत्ता पर सवाल उठाया है।

बुधवार की रात को स्पर्स के खिलाफ युनाइटेड की जीत, दस हाग के नवजात शासनकाल में शायद अब तक के सबसे बेहतरीन प्रदर्शन का उत्पाद, क्यों के रूप में एक सम्मोहक उदाहरण प्रदान करता है। रोनाल्डो के बिना, यूनाइटेड हलचल कर रहा है। इसके प्रदर्शन में एक ऊर्जा है, एक उत्साह है, अलग-अलग हिस्सों की भावना धीरे-धीरे एक अलग इकाई में बंधी हुई है, खेल की एक वास्तविक शैली के शुरुआती उभरते संकेत हैं।

और फिर भी रोनाल्डो की प्रसिद्धि, उनका आकर्षण, उनका चुंबकत्व ऐसा है कि अब भी उनकी अनुपस्थिति चीजों को निश्चित रूप से उनकी उपस्थिति के रूप में परिभाषित करती है। उनका मैदान से बाहर होना चर्चा का विषय है। कैमरा उसके पास जाता है, अवसर मिलते ही उसकी मनोदशा, उसकी मनःस्थिति को जानने की कोशिश करता है। प्रशंसकों, इस बात से सावधान, कि वह क्या था, इस बात से बेपरवाह, कि वह क्या हो सकता है, उसका नाम गाते हैं क्योंकि वह अपनी मांसपेशियों को फैलाने के लिए, एकत्रित जंग को दूर करने के लिए टचलाइन को टटोलता है।

बेशक, रोनाल्डो ने अपने शानदार करियर की उम्मीद नहीं की होगी। यह सच नहीं है, कोडा उनकी उपलब्धियों का वारंट है। उसके लिए सहानुभूति देने का कोई कारण नहीं है: आखिरकार, उनकी दुर्दशा, दुनिया के सबसे अमीर क्लबों में से एक में सबसे अधिक भुगतान करने वाले खिलाड़ी होने के गैर-अप्रासंगिक सांत्वना के साथ आती है।

लेकिन यह भी सच है कि रोनाल्डो आधुनिक फुटबॉल के अर्थशास्त्र के एक कार्य में फंस गए हैं। कुछ खिलाड़ियों ने, यदि कोई हो, ने खेल को वित्तीय राक्षस में बदलने के लिए 37 वर्षीय रोनाल्डो जितना किया है; वह वर्षों से वैश्विक विकास के लिए इसके अथक अभियान के दोहरे नेतृत्व (और प्रमुख लाभार्थी) में से एक रहे हैं।

अब, हालांकि, वह खुद को अपनी ही रचना की दया पर पाता है। सभी खिलाड़ी, यहां तक ​​कि सर्वश्रेष्ठ भी, अंत तक पहुंचते हैं। उनके पैर थके हुए हैं या उनके शरीर चरमराते हैं, वे अपने गोधूलि वर्ष बिताने के लिए थोड़ी अधिक आरामदायक जगह की तलाश करते हैं, कहीं न कहीं जांच कम चकाचौंध होती है या मांग बिल्कुल सटीक नहीं होती है या खेल के पूर्ण शिखर की तुलना में कार्य कम पहाड़ी होता है।

कभी-कभी, पूरे लीग ने बचने वाले वाल्व के रूप में कार्य किया है। जब खिलाड़ी तुर्की या एमएलएस या (पूर्व समय में) रूस और (संक्षेप में, उज्ज्वल) चीन में जाना चुनते हैं, तो यूरोपीय प्रशंसक उपहास करते हैं, लेकिन यह विचार करने योग्य है कि यह खेल के महान सेवानिवृत्ति के घर के बाद से इतना लंबा नहीं है – एक कि रूड गुलिट और जुर्गन क्लिंसमैन और बाकी सभी को मोटी तनख्वाह और लापरवाह विरोधियों के वादे के साथ आकर्षित किया – 1990 के दशक की प्रीमियर लीग थी।

अधिक बार हालांकि, क्लबों की एक पूरी कास्ट थी जो उस भूमिका को निभाने के लिए तैयार थी। मूल रोनाल्डो और रोनाल्डिन्हो के लिए, यह एक घटते एसी मिलान था। उनके ब्राजीलियाई टीम के साथी रिवाल्डो के लिए, यह ओलंपियाकोस था। यहां तक ​​​​कि डिएगो माराडोना, एक नहीं बल्कि दो ड्रग घोटालों के बाद, सेविला में कुछ समय के लिए सुरक्षित लैंडिंग स्थान पा सके।

कुछ के लिए, वे मार्ग अभी भी मौजूद हैं। स्टारडस्ट का लालच गोंजालो हिगुएन को इंटर मियामी ले गया और जियोर्जियो चिएलिनी और गैरेथ बेल को लॉस एंजिल्स एफसी में लाया। हालांकि, जुवेंटस में एनजीएल डि मारिया और मार्सिले में एलेक्सिस सांचेज़ की उपस्थिति अधिक बता रही है। चैंपियंस लीग से जुड़े खिलाड़ियों को या तो अनुमति नहीं दी जाती है या वे इससे बचने के लिए तैयार नहीं होते हैं, उनके ग्रीष्मकाल की गर्मी की तुलना में उनके शरद ऋतु के दिन सीधे होते हैं। Sinecure वे नहीं हैं जो वे हुआ करते थे।

यह आसान है – और पूरी तरह से गलत नहीं – क्रिस्टियानो रोनाल्डो पर न केवल लालच का आरोप लगाना, बल्कि अभिमान भी, यह इंगित करना कि उन्हें अनगिनत इच्छुक प्रेमी मिलेंगे यदि केवल वे पर्याप्त वेतन कटौती और स्थिति में एक पदावनति स्वीकार करेंगे। उन्हें वालेंसिया, या लाज़ियो, या गैलाटासराय में प्यार किया जाएगा। आखिरकार, दुनिया के सर्वश्रेष्ठ खिलाड़ी के रूप में उनके पूर्वज घड़ी की टिक टिक को स्वीकार करने के लिए तैयार थे।

बेशक, समस्या यह है कि उसे ऐसा करने की आवश्यकता नहीं है। यह कि वह धीरे-धीरे अपनी मृत्यु के लक्षण प्रदर्शित कर रहा था, स्पष्ट था जब उसने जुवेंटस को एक साल से थोड़ा अधिक समय पहले छोड़ दिया था, और फिर भी मैनचेस्टर यूनाइटेड – एक क्लब जो खुद को दुनिया में सबसे बड़ा मानता है – अभी भी उस पर हस्ताक्षर करने के लिए तैयार था, न कि सिर्फ इसके रोमांस के लिए लेकिन ब्रांड प्रभाव के लिए, एक्सपोजर, इंस्टाग्राम फॉलोअर्स के लिए। विश्वास करने का कोई कारण नहीं है, जब वह यूनाइटेड छोड़ देंगे, तो यह उनके अगले क्लब के लिए अलग होगा।

सीधे शब्दों में कहें तो रोनाल्डो बहुत मूल्यवान हैं, बहुत प्रसिद्ध हैं, इतने अधिक ड्रॉ हैं कि उन्हें सूर्यास्त तक जाने की अनुमति नहीं दी जा सकती। (बेशक, यह बिना कहे चला जाता है कि लियोनेल मेस्सी – पेरिस सेंट-जर्मेन और बार्सिलोना दोनों से अनुबंध प्रस्तावों के आसन्न प्राप्तकर्ता – बिल्कुल समान हैं।) कोई, कहीं, उसे कभी-कभार स्कोर करने के लिए एक बड़ी राशि की पेशकश करेगा चैंपियंस लीग में लक्ष्य, या इसे हासिल करने में उनकी सहायता करने के लिए।

और इसलिए यह उनका बहुत कुछ है, क्योंकि सबसे शानदार करियर में से एक कभी भी करीब नहीं आता है, लेकिन ग्लैमर की हर आखिरी बूंद, ऊर्जा के हर आखिरी औंस, हर आखिरी सुस्त कैमरा शॉट, जिसे देखने के लिए मजबूर किया जाता है। वह खेल जिस पर वह एक बार हावी था और जिन चरणों में वह एक बार स्वामित्व में था, वह उसके बिना आगे बढ़ता है।

बुधवार की रात को अंतिम सीटी बजने से एक या दो मिनट पहले, यूनाइटेड की जीत सुरक्षित होने के साथ, रोनाल्डो ने अपनी सीट से खुद को उठा लिया, मैदान के किनारे टहलते हुए ओल्ड ट्रैफर्ड सुरंग में गायब हो गए। अभी चार मिनट का खेल बाकी था।

जब तक वे समाप्त हुए, तब तक वह स्टेडियम छोड़ चुका था, और रात में गायब हो गया, उसके जागने में केवल विद्वेष और आक्रोश ही रह गया। अगले दिन, दस हैग ने फैसला किया कि रोनाल्डो को दंड के रूप में शेष सप्ताह के लिए अपने साथियों के साथ प्रशिक्षण से हटा दिया जाएगा। उन्होंने अपना आखिरी मैच मैनचेस्टर यूनाइटेड के लिए खेला होगा।

हालांकि यह इसका अंत नहीं होगा। एक और क्लब होगा, एक और टीम, एक चैंपियंस लीग की शोभा बढ़ाने की महत्वाकांक्षा के साथ या शायद इसे जीतने की योजना भी, जो उसके ड्रॉ, उसकी शक्ति का पूरी तरह से विरोध नहीं कर सकता है, जो एक बड़े स्टार से दूर नहीं देख पाएगा। गिरना।

यह लेख मूल रूप से . में दिखाई दिया
न्यूयॉर्क टाइम्स.

Originally published at Pen 18

australia: New Zealand stun champions Australia in Super 12 opener

Devon Conway scored a brilliant unbeaten 92 as New Zealand thrashed champions Australia by 89 runs in a rematch of last year’s final, making a blistering start to the Super 12 stage in the Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.

Overseas New Zealand players came out in large numbers at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Black Caps batsmen were treated to fireworks as they scored 200 for three in their 20 overs when Conway hit a six off the final ball.

Seamer Tim Southee struck early to remove David Warner and took three for six as New Zealand bowlers kept up the pressure to bowl the hosts out for 111 in the 18th over.

It was Australia’s biggest defeat in T20 Internationals and New Zealand’s first win in any format against their neighbors in Australia since their Test victory in Hobart 11 years ago.

Captain Kane Williamson said, “It was an excellent day.” “It was a very good total on that surface and I thought the bowling and fielding were excellent. We know how good this Australian team is but the boys showed a lot of ticker and took their catches. Yeah, it’s a weird old game ”

Finn Allen, one of four variations of New Zealand’s side, which lost to Australia in Dubai by eight wickets in last year’s World Cup final, played a brutal 16-ball 42 for the Group 2 match.

Dropped by Adam Zampa on 19, the 23-year-old opener hit five fours and three sixes before being cleaned up by a Josh Hazlewood yorker.

The pace waned a bit with Williamson at the crease, but he still managed to score a respectable run-a-ball 23, before Jimmy Neesham (26 not out) finished the innings with Conway, who scored 92 off 58 balls. scored runs.

Warner’s unfortunate dismissal for five – Southee’s opening ball came off his pads and bat and went back into his stumps – put Australia on the backfoot.

Mitchell Santner (3-31) took some early punishment, but Southee got his second wicket before covering Australia captain Aaron Finch for 13 when Mitch Marsh was caught in the deep for 16 by Neesham before the end of the powerplay. Got caught.

Marcus Stoinis was dismissed for seven in the ninth over to give Santner his second victim, but the honor for the wicket will go to Glenn Phillips, who raced around the outfield to take a diving catch for the ages.

Glenn Maxwell took some punishment by scoring 28 off 20 balls, but when he was gone, the Aussies were in all sorts of trouble at 89 for seven.

Trent Boult took two wickets to help clear the tail, but the final act of the match proper went to Conway, who took a comfortable behind the wickets after Pat Cummins sent Southee’s final delivery into the night sky. Catch taken.

“He jumped on us in the first four overs and we never really recovered from that,” Finch said.

“We were completely freaked out in all three aspects.”

Originally published at Pen 18

ipl: Women’s IPL: It’s been a long run-up to the crease, ladies

It has finally happened. After three years of experimentation, with three teams playing a short five match set, the BCCI has finally announced a full-fledged women’s IPL. In fact, ‘full’ can be a bit of a stretch. The inaugural men’s tournament featured 8 franchises playing a total of 59 matches. In the first year, the women’s tournament will feature 5 franchises. And, given that league stages are usually played in a round-robin format, there is no point in qualifying 4 out of 5 teams. If the third- and fourth-placed teams also play-off against each other, it will most likely be a 21- or 22-match format.

While this has generally been welcomed as a step forward, two issues are being debated:

Why did it take so long to start a women’s league, given that the IPL was the first T20 league and literally established a pro-cricket format in 2008?

Why 5 teams, where even a basic dipstick indicates there is enough interest for teams to have at least 8, if not 10 competing franchises?

The first can probably be attributed to a few factors. Anyone who has followed the IPL for the past few years will only look at the impressive numbers and relatively stable franchises. But the first 6-7 years of the IPL, while wildly successful, were tumultuous. He left the country in 2009 to avoid the general election. Lalit Modi was ousted in 2010. Kochi was annexed, Pune was taken back. The ban list on CSK and Rajasthan goes on and on.

No one in the BCCI or the IPL had given any thought beyond the existence of the men’s tournament Golden Goose. When things calmed down, expanding the men’s league was a more attractive priority. And it was easier to organize a token 5-match tournament than the hassle of auctioning off franchises and setting up a proper calendar and league for women.

The second contentious issue stemmed from the fact that the pool of quality women players was always a concern for administrators. In conversations in 2012, a senior BCCI selector told me that there were around 15-20 women players of professional quality and that the standards dropped sharply after the top 20. Given that each team would need at least 10 quality Indian players with 5. For international players, it would require at least 50 decent Indian players to harmonize the standards.

And that was, perhaps, the scale of seeing 5 franchises in the first year working backwards from the perceived quality pool.

There are many detractors of the argument, some claiming it was a chicken and egg situation. The faster the league starts, the more women players will be inspired and they will get a platform to step up their game. Others claim that these pool numbers were wildly subjective. In any event, the women’s IPL is trying to ensure a certain quality, by allowing 5 foreigners per team, as opposed to 4 in the IPL.

How big can this league be? Impressive national team performances and far greater awareness have meant that top women’s players today are well known and followed, a far cry from the horrific years of the 1990s, when women played a total of 26 ODIs throughout the decade. While the men’s teams were playing 40 matches a year. And right now, given the interest in teams, the men’s tournament won’t even have to subsidize the event to ensure a fair deal for the players.

Women’s professional sport has come a long way. Golf, and then tennis from the 1970s and Billie Jean King, were at the fore in the action. But over the past two decades, women’s Premier League football in England, where top players can earn up to £400,000 (₹3.68 crore), and WNBA basketball in the US, have shown that the top-level women’s team sport is here to stay.

BCCI has taken its time. But if they get that right, this league could be one of the most empowering moments for the women’s game in India.

Originally published at Pen 18

pakistan: India v Pakistan: If the rain Gods permit, India could get a cracker of a Diwali gift

No India-Pakistan formation in recent memory has dominated the weather as much as this one. The threat of rain was also seen in Manchester during the 2019 World Cup but this is different. With it raining in Melbourne until around 11:00 on Friday night, everyone has the same question – are there any positive updates on the weather?

At the same time, some weather forecasters have predicted that the chance of rain has decreased over the past day or so and that there may be dry weather in Melbourne in the time frame between 7:00-10:00 pm on Sunday. The drainage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is said to be good and gives a lifeline to the game.

Ultimately, however, the plan has to take into account the threat of rain. And that brings an extra fast bowler into the equation for both the teams.

While India have limited options in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, Pakistan have a chance to play three fast bowlers who can bowl at 150 kmph. This could create a contest in the batting position between the Indian top order and the bowling attack of Pakistan.

Captain Rohit Sharma is aware of the challenge. During the team’s net season, in two long batting stints, he did not play a single pull shot. He tried to play only in the ‘V’ and was clearly preparing himself to face the oncoming delivery from Shaheen Shah Afridi, his undoing in last year’s T20 World Cup.

On the other hand, Pakistan had a black slate right ahead of a good length for Mohammad Rizwan. Water was continuously poured on the slate to make the ball skid. Needless to say, it was the preparation of Mohammed Shami, a plan hatched by two Australians in the Pakistan support staff, Matthew Hayden and Shaun Tait.

The stakes have risen ahead of this all-important encounter, against the backdrop of a war of words between the Indian and Pakistani cricket boards over their participation in the East Asia Cup.

There is an undercurrent of animosity, although players try to reduce it. It’s not just another game because both the captains want us to believe in it. India vs Pakistan is never just another game in the background of what is going on between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

In an interview a few months back, Rohit Sharma took a jibe at the fact that he wants his team to be ready for any situation. “We need to be prepared for a situation where we are 10 for 2 or 10 for 3. In such a situation we should not panic. In the last three ICC events, we lost early wickets and that’s where we lost the match. We need to make sure it is not repeated for the fourth time. ,

Trying to attack the Pakistan openers would be risky and India could lose some early wickets in the powerplay. Is India ready for such a situation? Can Suriya, perhaps the best T20 batsman in the world right now, play India’s go-to man in a high-stakes encounter? His record against Pakistan is not great and this is one chance that can change everything. A match-winning effort from Surya could elevate his stock and establish him as one of the greats of white-ball cricket.

Hardik Pandya’s inability to bowl had upset India’s balance in the T20 World Cup last year. This caused a lot of resentment between Hardik and the selectors. He had to go through a lot to be able to make a great comeback. He loves the big stage and that was evident during the IPL. Can he do the same for India and make a difference in front of a packed MCG? This could be the Diwali gift, if the rain god allows, with over a billion Indians waiting at home.

Originally published at Pen 18

india: Since their debacle at last year’s T20 World Cup, India have worked on playing fearless and attacking cricket

“Is it 29?” Rohit Sharma asked, almost unbelievably when he was told that India had used so many players in 35 T20Is since the last World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) almost a year ago.

On 24 October, Shaheen Shah Afridi faced four balls in his first over, dismissing Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. India could never recover from 6 for 2 and could score 151 runs for 7 wickets.

A week later it was Trent Boult who did the damage, taking 3 for 20 as India rolled to 120 for 7 in 20 overs.

The common thread in those two defeats, which ensured India’s first-round exit, was that the opening wickets were batted separately. There is no room for strength in T20 cricket even if you lose early wickets and India has to pay the price for playing old-style cricket.

After the World Cup, Virat Kohli relinquished the T20 captaincy and a new team of coaches took over under the leadership of Rahul Dravid.

With Rohit as the captain in the shortest format, it was back to the drawing board for India. The first thing the new captain did was for his team to insist on playing fearless and consistently aggressive cricket during the 20 overs of each innings. This would inevitably mean that there would be days when they would erupt. To deal with this, India worked on creating depth in the batting order.

Key personnel were also identified for certain roles. Dinesh Karthik as a promoter is one such example. Hardik Pandya’s return to full fitness ensured that another piece of the puzzle fell into place.

“We wanted to change a lot of things, and we addressed what went wrong for us in the last World Cup,” Rohit said on the eve of India’s match against Pakistan. “Now it’s time to put those ideas, those plans into action. Look, no team will be 100% perfect, but as a team we want to do as many things right as possible.”

Injuries didn’t help late in the lead-up to the World Cup, with Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah being ruled out. While Axar Patel has ensured that India will not miss bowler Jadeja, it is now up to Mohammed Shami.

Shami hasn’t played any T20Is since November last year, and when he was scheduled to go into the home series against Australia, Covid-19 let him down. His comeback is probably something for which India did not plan carefully in its preparations.

“When Bumrah got injured, we always wanted someone experienced in the lineup and Shami was the right choice for us,” Rohit said. “With the kind of experience he has, we know he will never be short of match practice. I think she is very well prepared. He came to Brisbane a long time ago and did a few sessions with the whole team.”

The logic of playing this new brand of cricket is true and it is clear that the batting line-up had a whole-hearted buyout. In bilateral series, they have been able to roll out this style of play, and now it is time to talk in a high-pressure event where you face a new team in every match.

In doing so, players have been given the necessary protections to play with freedom. Each player is not judged by his results in one or two games, but by whether the team is playing the right kind of cricket. Once players have that protection, it’s easy to push the envelope and risk some more – which this format requires.

“I think the more you keep things simple, the easier it becomes for you to work and do things. That has been our focus,” said Rohit. “We have talked about this constantly. How can we give ourselves a little rest and not worry that we haven’t won an ICC trophy in nine years. It is my personal belief that if you think too much about the past, you focus on the present Can’t concentrate.”

The future of Indian T20 cricket is now. All that is left for this group is to put pressures and expectations behind and wait for the opportunity to end their drought in global events.

Originally published at Pen 18