T20 World Cup 2022: Don't mind Indian fans, it was never meant to be for Rohit Sharma's team, here's WHY

T20 World Cup 2022: Be it missing close run-out chances or bowling economically or power-hitting in the power plays, Team India never looked up to the mark against the stronger sides.

If you rewind all the matches, you can surely tell that except for Kohli and SKY, no Indian batter was comfortable and no bowler looked threatening in any match.

Team India were the table toppers in Super 12 Group 2 but can you recall any of the matches except one against Zimbabwe in which the Rohit Sharma-led side looked comfortable winning? Be it missing close run-out chances or bowling economically or power-hitting in the power plays, Team India never looked up to the mark against the stronger sides. 

Let's start from the beginning- the thriller against Pakistan. Babar Azam's team lost wickets at regular intervals but did that help India prevent run leaks? No, Pakistan closed their innings with 159. Indian top order surrendered before Pakistan pacers and had it not been for Virat Kohli's heroics, Team India were looking towards a certain defeat. India won by 4 wickets off the last ball.

Next were the Netherlands, comparatively a lesser experienced team. India amassed 179 runs, KL Rahul failed again, and despite the Netherlands losing 7 wickets for 89 runs, they were able to play the whole 20 overs to end their innings at 123 for 9. The bowlers failed to get all 10 wickets. Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya's bowling economy was 9 runs per over. India won by 56 runs.

The third match was against South Africa. KL Rahul started his batting with six dot balls in a T20 match. Was it supposed to be a Test match?  The match marked the collapse of India's hostile batting unit once again and this time, Suryakumar Yadav came to the rescue helping India to post a meagre total of 133 runs. Defending a low total, Ravichandran Ashwin fell short of a half-century by just seven runs as he leaked 43 runs in 24 balls. Hardik was again expensive and Bhuvneshwar Kumar wicketless. South Africa won by five wickets.

The second scariest encounter for India was against Bangladesh. KL Rahul started his batting with four dot balls. He hit a 50 and got out immediately. India posted a handsome total of 184 runs thanks to Kohli and SKY. The bowling unit failed miserably and Bangladesh lost their first wicket to a run-out at the score of 68 runs in a rain-curtailed match with a DLS target of 151. 

India were almost on the brink of losing this match as well. All bowlers proved expensive except for Axar Patel. India won by just 5 runs as they gave out 145 runs in 16 overs.

The final group match was against Zimbabwe. It was the only match where both the bowling and batting units looked clinical. However, KL Rahul was once again sluggish with his start as he played six dot balls to open the innings. India won this match by 71 runs.

If you rewind all the matches, you can surely tell that except for Kohli and SKY, no Indian batter was comfortable and no bowler looked threatening in any match except for one or two occasions here and there. Do you suppose to win matches with such a performance?

Rohit Sharma-led team's score in powerplays tells the tale of opening woes. It scored 31 runs against Pakistan, 32 against the Netherlands, 33 against the South Africa, 37 against Bangladesh, 46 against Zimbabwe and 38 against England in the first six overs of the respective matches. 

India's win against Pakistan and Bangladesh looks more like a fluke than a team performance. I would not like to point fingers at the selection. The Indian team was just lacking the fire needed to make it to the semis, forget finals.

It was more of luck that favoured India in group stages and since it was always open to vulnerability be it against a quality side of Pakistan or South Africa, what happened in semis should not come as a surprise. Something similar had already happened with India against Pakistan in the previous world cup.

Team India needs to take a tough decision going ahead and it may be a bitter pill to swallow but that is what is needed at the time. We need fresh firepower in bowling units and power hitters at the top to do what England or Bangladesh did to India.