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| Mitchell Santner |
It
looked like a Test match on the last day (the third day could be the last day)
on a rank turner with batsmen struggling for dear life. More specifically, it
looked exactly like the last Test match played in this venue in November, 2015
between India and South Africa when the hosts won the series thanks to the rank
turner and spin within three days. For the first match of the Super-10 stage of
the ICC World T20 Championship the pitch in Nagpur was obviously out of ranks.
Who knows it was perhaps gifted to Team India thanks to their known aversion to
anything ‘green’. Only recently the ‘green’ offered in Pune worked disastrously
for the Australia bashers as they perished to a shock defeat against a lifeless
Sri Lanka in the first match of the domestic T20 Series that they eventually
won 2-1. Whatever be the pitch issue, it was New Zealand who prepared perfectly
for it including three spinners in the team and batting with a definite plan.
The so-called masters of spin in the land of spinners called India in fact
perished completely to spin giving 9 wickets to New Zealand spinners for just
44 runs whereas the glorious Indian spinners accounted for only 3 wickets for
74 runs.
If
the rank turner was indeed a ‘gift’ then it was naturally expected India won the
toss which Mahendra Singh Dhoni could not achieve and that perhaps sealed the
game. Opting to bat first New Zealand had a menacing start with two huge sixes
in the very first over by spinner R Ashwin, and of course losing a wicket too
in the bargain. Reading the pitch well the Kiwis continued to go after the
bowlers trying to score as much as possible despite losing wickets at regular
intervals. However, the Indian bowling attack that picked up from the last ODI
against Australia in Australia last year with the inclusion of Jasprit Bumrah
did quite well on Tuesday, the 15th of March, 2016 to restrict the
visitors to 126/7 in allotted 20 overs. The effort was ably supported by
excellent ground fielding. The target of 127 did not look that formidable
considering Indian batting depth and the consistently performing top order. But
as it transpired the hosts apart from not preparing well for the ‘gift’ did not
even read the signs well when New Zealand was batting.
And
the Indian batsmen perished one after the other—in a most humiliating and
school-boy fashion failing to anchor even a single partnership. The top of the
three Kiwi spinners, Mitchell Santner captured 4 wickets for just 11 runs. Team
India crashed to their second lowest ever T20 total of 79 runs conceding a
defeat by a huge margin of 47 runs in low scoring match. The highest individual
score was 30 by an aimless captain Dhoni who could not prevent the crashes all
around him. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli fell to atrociously casual shots. Team
India thus could not break the no-win jinx in T20 format against New Zealand
giving the latter the 5th consecutive victory. The Scorecard:
Team
India started their ICC World T20 campaign after winning 7 matches on the trot—two
matches in the Series against Sri Lanka and all five matches in the Asia
Cup-2016 winning the record 6th title defeating a spirited
Bangladesh in the final in Dhaka and before that a 3-0 whitewash against
Australia in Australia—as deserving hot favourites. This shock defeat could be
an aberration to be forgotten quickly as some people are saying this was due to
perhaps overconfidence. India have already discovered their winning eleven and
they have it in them the potential and the firepower to regroup immediately for
the following matches including the big one against Pakistan on 19th
March in Kolkata. They cannot afford to lose one more. The Indian bowling
attack now is good. And if the top order continues to perform consistently as
ever with necessary support from the middle then Team India could still be invincible.
However,
one concern remains. If Nagpur gives the indication of the pitches for the
upcoming matches then God save the tournament and God save the spin-toned home
team. In fact, such pitches defeat the very purpose of the shortest format. The
Asia Cup-2016 was also a dampener as most of the matches were low scoring. The home
teams concerned must always rise above their ‘own backyard’ bias for the larger
interest of the tournaments and cricket. It’s the spirit of an international
competition that lends so much credibility to the ICC World T20 despite being
played in the shortest format. Let the spirit prevail.
