T20 World Cup 2021: 7 reasons why Team India suffered their 2nd straight embarrassing loss

2 matches, 2 heavy defeats and the road to semifinals just got tougher for Team India. What went wrong for Virat Kohli’s men in the game vs New Zealand, here are the possible reasons behind the humiliation in Dubai

Why shuffle the openers?
With KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma being team India's regular openers in the shortest format of the game for some time now, the need to adjust Ishan Kishan on top backfired for Virat Kohli. The southpaw was sent in with perhaps the intention of having a left-right combination as the experienced Rohit Sharma came out to bat at number 3. While Ishan has batted at 3 and 4 for his IPL side, Mumbai Indians, the team management could have perhaps avoided tampering with the opening combination.

Powerplay wickets
Against Pakistan, in the very first match of the World T20 campaign, India lost three wickets in the powerplay but the top order seemed to have learnt nothing from that outing. Three wickets fell again, in the powerplay against New Zealand as the soft underbelly of the middle order was exposed early. Losing wickets in the powerplay has slowly become an unwanted hallmark in team India's recent performances.

Confusion in Virat’s batting approach
While Virat Kohli's gritty half century against Pakistan looked good last Sunday, a week later his seventeen ball nine was the perfect example of the confusion in Kohli's approach in T20 cricket. In IPL 2021, a lot of questions were raised at his paltry 119 strike rate and the template seems to be continuing in the World T20. While his shots may still look exciting, the strike rate from the mainstay of team India's batting line-up is nothing less than painful.

Kohli’s luck with the toss
Captain Kohli once said that this team is capable of winning on any surface, irrespective of the outcome of the toss. But in both the outings, the team failed to put up a fight after losing the toss. While luck plays a part in winning the toss, team India's inability to put up a fight after losing the toss haunted them in both outings. On a lighter note, perhaps King Kohli could send someone else for the toss, something that has been in practice in many T20 leagues around the world

Bowlers not sticking to plans
While no one can deny the batting failure in both the matches, the bowlers managed to pick up just two wickets in two games. The sight of Hardik Pandya bowling was surely a welcome sight for team India and the fans but the rest of the pack collectively looked clueless. With the dew also coming into play in the second innings, the fast bowlers appeared out of control and the spinners had nothing to offer. Also, the rotation of bowlers was questionable under the leadership of Virat Kohli. Something which was brutally exposed in both matches

Spinning track and no Ashwin?
While the track assisted spin in the first half of the game, the captain and the team think tank chose not to play Ravichandran Ashwin once again despite picking the Tamil Nadu veteran for these situations. While surely it depended a lot on winning the toss to bowl in conditions without dew, an extra spinner could have surely help Virat Kohli. The mystery with Varun Chakravarthy is something the team management was banking on, clearly overlooking the experienced Ravichandran Ashwin.

“We weren’t brave enough”
After the loss, captain Kohli had no explanation for the way Team India failed to put up a fight. One can have the best minds guiding the team in the dressing room but the intensity on the field was missing. Virat accepted the mistake and blamed the missing intensity and poor body language for the loss against New Zealand.

Also read: T20 World cup 2021: Team India choke, New Zealand win by 8 wickets