Explained: New Chokers? The fate of Team India and knockout matches of ICC events

New Zealand won the inaugural World Test Championship against Team India. On the other hand, with that win, India suffered another defeat which means a defeat in yet another knockout match of ICC events. There were, of course, criticism drawn against the players specifically the captain Virat Kohli. Chokers started to trend on social media Twitter after Team India's endured the 6th straight loss in knockouts of ICC events.

 

 

In 2014, India lost the ICC World T20 final to Sri Lanka under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. Next year, they lost the World Cup (50 overs) semifinal to Australia in Sydney. In 2016, they went down to the West Indies in the ICC World T20 semifinal in Mumbai. Under Kohli, India lost the Champions Trophy final to Pakistan at The Oval in 2017, while in 2019, New Zealand got the better of them in the World Cup semifinal at Old Trafford. Now, in this WTC final, they were beaten by the Kiwis.

 

 

 

The stats does not say so. This is because two T20 World Cups and one ODI World Cup were captained by Dhoni. While speaking of Kohli, India lost Champions Trophy one ODI World Cup, and World Test Championship. It was the inconsistency shown by players specifically the batsmen that mattered more in these events. The batsmen struggled more against the pace and swing as they could not hold momentum to maintain partnerships. For e.g. Kyle Jamieson dismissing Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara in the two overs on the final day.

 

 

 

Kohli in the post-match presentation said that India lacked a fast-bowling all-rounder who could have provided more balance to the playing eleven i.e. Shardul thakur, who is fearless and hard-hitter, could have brought those 30-40 runs, Kohli was talking about. Besides, India had their best players young as well as experienced for the WTC final. However, Bumrah was another player who could have performed better. He went wicketless in his 26 overs in the first innings and in the second innings, when he eventually induced an edge from Ross Taylor, Pujara dropped a dolly at first slip.

 

 

 

In 2017 after the India lost to Pakistan, Ravi Shastri was appointed as the head coach of Team India. Though he has had a fair amount of success with the Asia cup win in 2018, the Nidahas Trophy win in 2018 and historic Australia Test series win, his contribution was not witnessed much later especially in the 2019 World Cup which is one of the big moments and now his team selection for the World Test Championship finals has already been questioned.

Ravi Shastri is set to serve until the ICC T20 Worldcup 2021 which will take place in a few month’s time and India should be looking to change the coaching staff if the performances aren’t up to the level.

 

Also Read: WTC Final: Ups, Downs, Impossible! India's road to glory