The Indian team has been stumped out of the World Cup T20 tournament. Though, the team did buck up after making a record of no boundaries in 10 overs against New Zealand, the team has been removed from the tournament which was dependent on today’s match of New Zealand VS Afghanistan.
The entry of the Indian team in the semifinals was dependent on Afghanistan’s win in the match. However, Afghanistan lost by eight wickets resulting in the ship of Indian fans’ hope sinking for this year’s WC T20 tournament.
The tournament began with its first match that was India VS Pakistan. The overconfidence of Indian fans led to its downfall. Some even went to the extent to call the match against Pakistan a ‘formality’ as India has already won against Pakistan for decades. The match that was played on October 24th under the captaincy of Virat Kohli was lost by zero wickets. It put pressure on the team to win as the bittersweet rivalry between the two countries has led to many mockery arts including the famous Mauka Mauka ad campaign, several memes and a Pakistani guy, Momin Saqib expressing his annoyance with the Pakistan team losing for decades. We all remember, ‘Ekdum Waqt Badal Diya, Jazbaat Badal Diye, Zindagi Badal Di‘. Suddenly, it is quite relatable.
However, the comments that followed the loss against Pakistan heavily criticized Virat Kohli and acknowledged the absence of former captain, MS Dhoni who led the team for so long. Under Dhoni’s spectacular leadership, Indian team’s fielding was considered to be one of the strongest in the world and led the team to win two World Cups. Dhoni’s wicket keeping skills cannot be forgotten even for a second while viewing any cricket match.
After the great loss against Pakistan in its first match with zero wickets, the Indian team was under immense pressure to perform well in the second match against New Zealand. While the fans were disappointed in the team, they held faith but to no avail. As people in India tried to keep their hopes up on October 31, it came crashing down once again when India did not hit the boundary for 10 overs.
The team did buck up by the third time around. India won by 66 runs against Afghanistan on November 3, followed by a win against Scotland by eight wickets on November 5. It did improve the team’s stand among the fans but the fans of Indian team are disappointed all over the world expecting for the team to improve. After all, cricket is a ‘religion’ in India.
