The Indian Cricket Team are now on the verge of getting eliminated from the group stage of the T20 World Cup. This result has not been expected from this Indian side. The defeat against Pakistan has started to draw more questions for this side and the humiliation against New Zealand has opened the floodgates. India can still qualify for the semis, though it will not at all be easy now.

Here are the three reasons why Team India has performed so poorly so far in this tournament-

1. Wrong Approach Of Playing T20 Cricket:

India has always tried to play T20 cricket as an extension of ODI cricket. They have always believed in strike rotation in the middle overs after a good powerplay and tried to go hard in the last four overs. However, the modern T20 game has changed a lot. The batsmen need to take risks in the middle overs nowadays to search for a boundary.

However, this Indian cricket team has never been able to adopt this style of play till now. They have shown no intent in the middle overs against Pakistan in the first game. In the second game, they tried to play big shots. However, the confidence of the players has been so low that the ball has not connected well with the bat. It’s the lack of intent that has been the reason for the Indian cricket team’s downfall in this tournament.

2. Physical And Mental Fatigue Of The Players:

The cricketers who play in all three formats of the game certainly look tired in this tournament. The likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and a few others have been in the bio bubble since the World Test Championship in England. In the press conference after the defeat against New Zealand, Jasprit Bumrah said that the bio bubble had certainly made an impact on the players.

Players like Glenn Maxwell and Ben Stokes have taken breaks from cricket during the pandemic, with the latter still not back to professional cricket. Some may feel this is an excuse but too much cricket can have its toll on player performances too.

So, BCCI might well be responsible for this kind of busy schedule for team India ahead of the World Cup. The question will now arise whether it has been the right decision to conduct the remainder of the Indian Premier League just ahead of the T20 World Cup. The physical and mental fatigue of the players can be considered another reason for this failure.

3. Poor Team And Squad Selection By India:

From the announcement of the squad, there have been few doubts about the members of this side. Ravichandran Ashwin has not been in the planning of the T20 World Cup till the last T20 series India played against England. Suddenly he gets the chance in the squad, but a proven leggie Yuzvendra Chahal has been dropped. Shikhar Dhawan’s record in the ICC tournaments has always been good. He has also not got the opportunity to play in this T20 World Cup.

After that, there has been a sudden change in the batting order in the big game against New Zealand. The experienced campaigner like Rohit Sharma has been dropped to the number three position where he is not used to playing. These kinds of drastic decisions have certainly made an impact on the performances of the players. The players have started to doubt their capabilities and this has resulted in those half-hearted shots which got caught in the boundary lines.