Are the Men in Blue new chokers of world cricket?

The 10-wicket hammering at the hands of England in the T20 World Cup semi-finals must be driving the Indian TV pundits and their legion of fans up against the wall in search for solutions which could have saved the day for them. A better start at the powerplay than being 38 for one? Chahal for Axar ? And what if Bumrah was there?

All are extremely credible reasons, but fact remains the Men in Blue were left with no answers against what was certainly a lifetime opening partnership in such a high pressure knockout game. This now leaves India waiting to end their drought of a major ICC title since the 2013 Champions Trophy, while the magic memories of their last World Cup triumph on April 2, 2011 at the Wankhede is gradually acquiring a sepia tint about it.

A crestfallen captain Rohit Sharma admitted that they failed to handle the ‘pressure,’ while Nasser Hussain’s dig was difficult to miss when he exulted at England’s comprehensive win ‘’despite all the T20 cricket being played in India (read: IPL).’’ The unpalatable question then is: are India then the new chokers at ICC tournaments?

While it will make for an engaging debate, the regularity with which India had been stumbling at the last two hurdles only strengthens such an avoidable tag. Here goes their sequence of exits since their last Champions Trophy triumph nearly a decade back: 2014 T20 World Cup (final), 2015 ICC World Cup (semi-final), 2016 World T20 (semis), 2019 World Cup (semis) – leave alone their World Test Championship final loss last year. A shock first round exit in the 2021 World T20 in the UAE almost goes under the radar amid such a record.

 Now, the inability to snatch a World T20 crown ever since the IPL changing the landscape of world cricket since it’s arrival in 2008 can be indeed galling. It’s no state secret that the current white ball giants of English cricket – from ‘Joss the Boss,’ Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow and of course Ben Stokes have re-aligned their brand of fearless cricket on the testing grounds of IPL since 2015 – and the country is now reaping the benefits as a whole.

 India, on the other hand, have betrayed a lack of vision to approach each of these World Cups and rode on individual brilliance more often than not rather than a cohesive strategy. There have been far too many examples of this – remember the last 50-overs World Cup in England where they failed to find a suitable number four batsman despite it assuming the proportions of a national crisis – and eventually played three wicketkeeper-batsmen in the semi-finals against New Zealand (M.S. Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant) which they lost.

 A common refrain, and with good reason, is that India have enough depth to line up two to three national teams of virtually same strength. However, a strange, conservative approach befalls them in major tournaments when they rely on reputation rather than blooding youngsters with the right skill sets for the job? I am sure that the lack of a power-packed start from Rohit and an off-colour KL Rahul will come under scanner after this exit, but then they shied away from giving a break to the explosive Ishan Kishan after all the talk of a left-right combination.

 The persistence with Ravi Ashwin in this format of cricket, ever since the new dispensation took charge in Indian cricket, had been as baffling as Kohli & Co’s neglect of him in away Test series. The same holds true for the recall of Dinesh Karthik and keeping him in the playing XI ahead of Rishabh Pant on the merit of the former’s performance as a ‘finisher’ in IPL.

It’s not that Rohit’s men had become a poor side overnight after Thursday’s exit. There have been several positive takeways like Kohli’s form, Hardik Pandya’s emergence as the MVP of the side and young Arshdeep Singh emerging as a young seamer with a matured head on his shoulders at the death.

One is, of course, not sure if that will be good enough for the fans as their patience is running out now!