Q : why did we lose?
A: There were a few factors , in the end it all came down to Rohit Sharma's captaincy.
If they had produced a normal pitch , Ind would have won & then there was no need for this long blog post. but here we are, if you want to read the details, read below. Otherwise the quick answer is the 1 line above.
Rohit Sharma's captaincy was the worst that i have ever seen.
What's the captain's role, while batting sending in the people at right order , he messed it up by sending Jadeja ahead of SKY. While fielding, he messed it up by changing the opening bowlers. Selecting which bowlers to bowl and what field to set - these are the 2 main roles of a captain when he fields. Rohit was abysmal in both. "WHERE WERE THE SLIPS??" - I was getting angry at where were the slips even before the nicks, anyone can captain when you score 300+, the real test was then and there - low score of 240, Show us your acumen. There was none to see, only way one can win was to take wickets, and how will the spinners take the wkts without any slips? 2 nicks at 111 & 127 and Ind lost the match. Fire Rohit from captaincy.
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Long version below:
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know thyself - aus knew they were the underdogs- with that recognized, they had no pressure. even if we lose, it was expected - they thought, so had no fear. also they have won 5 wc’s before, so a loss here is not a thing which will never come back for them, if it was some other team like SA, They would have their own pressure.
so they thought before the match, we r underdogs, how do we win? well, to beat ind , u need to play well first of all - that’s a given, now if we can do that, what else, as Ind is so powerful team, we need other factors to come into the play
Before the final , there was lot of talk of ‘how the hell to beat ind’ - not many had the answers , but the feeling was in order for ind to lose, the other team needs to get the best of the conditions and ind the worst of the conditions on that day.
It was seen early in the tournament that toss was a factor.
knowing this - Aussies were like , we need to take risks, bit like a unfacied team in NFL going for a fake punt, take risks. So conventional wisdom was to bat first , put runs on the board in a final.
This is the one of the first things which eventually went into their favor, it was a risk & it came off, Ind got the worst of conditions, (it was not worst worst, the pitch wasn’t unplayable- what i mean is batting was easier after the first 10 overs batting second)
so, this was even before the match, they knew thyself, so took a risk in order to get the best conditions.
#1 Took risk of batting second
(‘ok to lose’ attitude helped them to take this risky decision)
#2 Slow pitch - Its been reported that Ind asked for a slow pitch, if it was a normal pitch , above toss wouldn’t make such a difference, ind would have scored close to 400 & win like semis.
if you look just at the first 7 overs, there were so many fielding changes by aus, almost like wtf we don’t care attitude, slips-no slips - 3rd man - no 3rd man , deep sq fielder,,, the don’t give a shit, free do whatever attitude,,, we gonna lose anyways ,wtf. Having said all that Ind were going on well at 54/1 after 7.
With that (toss fielding decision) came the result of fielding in the heat. They did that well.
10 ov 80/2, RS has gone after a quick 47 as he has done in the tournament, could he have not gone for the shot, sure, but that’s how he plays these days.
As they say in ‘tenet’ - whatever has happened has happened.
Now it’s still even stevens, iyer comes in.
It all starts now, if there was a 10 over partnership - Ind were all setup for a big one, but Iyer gets the 1st ball from a seamer, (his 3rd), doesn’t play forward, was it the shot ball effect? nicks it as he plays inside the line, and is gone.
The pressure has now started, Rahul comes in, he knows we can’t lose another wkt , as that will bring in SKY so early… its time to consolidate and bat till 30overs
81/3
10 overs are gone. Ind cannot lose another wkt. (this is similar to what will happen to Aus, but RS gets on a defensive and doesn’t put slips , wkt is now easier and they coast thru).
one can see in the 11th ov itself, this is going to be difficult, they can’t afford to lose another wkt & at the same time the pitch is slow …. its going to be slow batting for a while now. Rahul can’t be blamed.
12th over, Zampa, 1st ball - no slips, commentator talks about ‘no slips’ - Ind is going to do the same in some time.
Now Cummings is bowling well , just bouncing the ball pretty much middle of the pitch, their fielding has been good & desperate throughout.
If iyer was not out, this phase would have been different.
From 10 to 17 -> 17.2 overs gone, RR has now come down to 6 ,,, RS blast gave them 7 overs of breathing space
20 overs gone now, good that Ind didn’t lose a wkt, slow going but its ok , need to play another 10 overs. RR 5.75
25 overs gone, 131/3 5.24 RR , The other factor in this really slow effort is SKY, they should have made a batting change in the inconsequential matches to give SKY a run. He was pretty much uncooked but for that 49.
50 partnership of 88 , not so bad.
25.1 Tampa bowling his 4th with no slips so far, Kohli gets his 50 off 56 balls.
26.2 - Rahul scores a 4 after 97 balls,,, they r about to change gears
28.3 -> massive moment, cummings has been bowling short, kohli has been nudging both him & others to 3rd man for singles, this ball is close to him, he had run that ball down to 3rd on 28.1 , but now as its more close, gets an inside edge and gets bowled.
its only 28 overs, they don’t want to send SKY so early, they send in Jadeja. -> first change they have done of the finals. Which was a mistake… u should have trusted ur batsman.
Rahul is on 37 off 67, seemed like he was about to get going, but now is the only real batsman left. Can’t afford to get out.
So now Ind is 150 in 30 overs. 20 more to go, 120 balls, Ind ended up with 90 off the last 120….
35th ov, Jadeja goes 9 off 22, ball is reversing now, Aussies were throwing the ball at every moment in order to make the balls older… now the pitch is dry & slow & on top of it , ball is reversing.
all this while , no one hit the ball, there should have been 1 batter out of the 2 hitting, but there was no one.
people r going after SKY, but what do u want him to do, by the time he gets in - its nearly 40 overs, u got dry slow conditions where no one was able to do anything from 10 ov onwards, and he is now expected to pull miracles out when it has started reversing on the top of it all! (bad decision to hold off a batter back in place of a allrounder)
9th ball he faces - scores a boundary.
40 overs, 197/5, rahul & sky… we made 43 in last 10.
41 & rahul is gone, only sky is left now with the four #11’s , 203/6, good we made 37 more runs
I mean when was the last time a ball was reversing in an ODI?
conditions were so different for the 2 teams while batting, no wonder wasim akram was suggesting playing day-day final.
only time zampa had a slip was when bumrah was batting 9.4th ball
last 3 overs, sky is stuck with #10 kuldeep, knows he has to strike, but can’t do that on this pitch, all they mostly are bowling at him is a slow bouncer.
they bowl one slow bouncer, He can run a single but decides not to as other batsman is kuli. they give him a non-slow bouncer and he almost gets a 4, takes 2. Gets out next ball on a slow bouncer.
He just wasn’t given enough deliveries to play as a proper batsman.
this was just like 1996 semis, but for us it all happened in the first innings this time!
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now it has happened, we need to defend this low score of 240, only way to do it or defend a low score is to attack & have catching fielders, RS didn't do that , 111 & 127 no slips, catches gone.
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bum runs in & first ball kohli doesn’t go for a catch and misses it, 4… is this the answer already .. slips… bum overpitches and gives away 15 runs in 1st ov itself.. is it now that RS panics and gives the ball to shami as he knows all he has are the first few overs of swing?
1.1 first ball wide ..shami gets warner, previous drop is now deleted. they must b thinking right now that the decision to give shams the new ball is correct
16/1
all 3 top aussies are not gonna hold back, they r gonna hit it out, warner goes trying to get a 4 on a ball that would otherwise be called a wide
stadium came alive!
shams can’t control the swing its 28/1 after 2
4 ov 41/1 , that change hasn’t panned out
all they need now is 200 more runs
41/2 bumrah gets another lucky wkt on a wide ball
5 ov 41/2
5th ov done , 1 run , shami bowls excellent 6 balls , like he does. (this is where he should have been given the ball in the first place, not the new ball of 2nd ov)
RS should have kept it the same with Siraj, first 2 overs with that ball were crucial.
Win prob for ind at 48%, when it started it was around 20%
7 ov 43/3 , head doesn’t let steve take DRS, 3 lucky wkts for us , ind were 81/3
one more wkt and we r into max-ignis , who can fold, all we need is a breakthrough.
10 ov 60/3 , pretty much first time i see shami bowling with no 3rd man this WC
the pressure is taken off now, spinners come in , with mostly no slips, as they are afraid that the dew might come in, Aus know that they just need around 4 runs per ov to win, no pressure of runs, just stay there, labu is made for that sort of batting, with head goes for it as its easier now to bat against spinners
If shami hadn’t opened, he would have another 2 overs, head has played & missed 5 times so far, one close one last ov.
or should have given ball to Siraj now only.
11.5 overs - win predictor has india at 52% and Australia at 48% !
15 ov 78, so 5 ov 18 runs but the pressure is gone, they can breathe in and consolidate
that was the mauka, the pressure valve has now been left open by RS. Still there was hope if he kept slips. it was so off & on, they had slips for head - kuli , but next ball not for labu-kuli?
16th ov head hits kuli for 6 , next ov (17th) is the first time siraj is introduced. its not only what happens to Siraj, its what happens to your trump card Shami…
starts with no slips
Drinks, siraj goes for 6 runs.
17.2 ov win predictor has Ind now at 38% , Aus 62%
In 5 overs everything changed.
50 partnership 18.4 ov
100 up, ind were picking wkts earlier in the tournament … hopes getting low , but soon they will get their chance
111 - chance cames - kuli-labu no slips, chance gone… but will RS learn and keep a slip now, they need around 4.5 per ov… only way to win is take wkts!
22.2 - 119 nasser says “no slips which is a surprise, they need wkts, they are milking, with odd hit” -> WP 27% Ind 73% Aus
in comes shami… last throw of dice , 1st ball 4 , silence
127 happens, no slip jad-head , match over
weird thing is no one from the comm’s goes after RS for keeping no slips.
Conclusion:
All the changes they made before & at the final came undone.
- Pitch
- Sending jad before sky
- Opening bowling changes
If NO CHANGES were made, we would have won. Keep things the same, don’t fix when not broken, don’t panic.
People might mistakenly say “oh we made changes in 2011 too..” , the difference is that this team was way better than 2011, in 2011 we lost a game & one game was a tie. This team was a thru & thru winner.
· Pitch
take care of above & no need to read below. Indian batting would have played well & the trump card of shami would have taken care of rest.
Changes made in final
1. Sending jadeja above sky
2. changing opening bowling
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above mistakes not withstanding below was the most crucial thing which sunk the ship
The final nail:
-> Only way to win if you score low is to go for wkts. RS doesn’t do that, puts no slips, catches go there on 111 & 127 and we lose. Bad captaincy. Buckled under pressure. Stupid captaincy by Rohit Sharma.
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A couple of days later, i saw highlights of ind-eng match again, its the same match - was all i kept on saying as i was watching it, "its the same match as finals"... except the 3 mistakes were not done by indian think tank, pitch wasn't best for batting , eng put ind in, we lost wkts, but this time sky came in around 30 overs, (they didn't promote jadeja above him), he comes in and scores a good 49, we end with 229. So it's almost the same match as finals. Now we didn't panic, siraj was given the 2nd ov, bum-siraj opened as usual, shami came in the 6th ov, siraj was back in 10th, bum got initial wkts (just like final), shami got wkts, slips were in for spinners, we defended and win the match by 100 runs!
In the finals mid-innings break, the team management should have said "look guys - this is same as our eng match, we defended 230 then , we will do the same here, lets just keep the bowling order the same, attack and we will win"
they should have taken the template of who bowled when in the ind-eng match, and should have done the same in finals , simple.
People might say "oh, the diff this time around was the dew" , that's correct, but we still would have had aus 5 down in finals for 127 even with the mistake of changing opening bowling if we had kept slips. From then on, it could have been anyone's game & given the pressure (people keep saying that aus handled pressure well etc, - which is true , but while batting if we had them 5 down, then we would have seen if they really handled the pressure well). I believe max-ignis wouldn't have fared well under those circumstances & we should have won it.
