The one off T20I to follow the One day series ended in jubilation for the hosts, who ruthlessly chased down India’s target of 190, riding confidently on Evan Lewis’s brutal and powerful hitting, coupled with some ordinary cricket by the visitors. Here are 5 things the Indian team did wrong:
1. Complacency
Ever since India reacehd the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy, there has been a consensus that a sense of superiority was starting to build in the ranks of the team, and this would hinder them from reaching their full potential. It was no different in this game, as they scored 190, and went to on to concede it with no difficulty at all to the rampaging West Indies, who clearly wanted it more.
2. Virat Kohli could not reduce the tempo of West Indies innings
From the day he was given the responsibility, Virat Kohli has led India very well across all three formats of the game. He is a very proactive captain who wants to create opportunity on every ball. Sometimes, he gets too aggressive but that’s how he plays his cricket. However, in the one-off T20I against West Indies, Virat wasn’t able to reduce the tempo of the game when Evin Lewis was smashing Indian bowlers out of the park. Kohli looked clueless and he didn’t try anything out of the box. It was surely a captaincy lesson for the young dynamic Indian captain.
3. Poor Fielding
The Indian outfielding made itself look very bad in the ok off T20. Some lethargic Fielding, coupled with some ridiculous looking drop catches made the chase that much easier for the Windies. Kohli and Shami were involved in a comedy of errors, while Dinesh Kartik was left grasping at thin air for a relatively easy take for a fielder of his capability.
4. Dhoni is looking out of sorts
MS Dhoni is looking like a man in much need of a rest. While he still remains one of the fittest players on the squad, his age will definitely begin to catch up with him, and expecting him to be at the top level for every single series is not logical. Some messy work behind the wicket, which one rarely sees from MS Dhoni, coupled with a failure with the bat made it a game not worth remembering for the ex skipper.
5. Spinners looked inadequate
The pitch was a flat one, and Virat Kohli’s decision to field Yadav, Ashwin and Jadeja seemed to make no sense. They were hammered, and even though Kuldeep Yadav took a wicket the three spinners looked completely out of place, and frankly, the West Indies batsmen negated them perfectly.
By Aravind Harish
