Team India: Everything was fine as long as we were winning, one defeat exposed the biggest weakness of Team India

New Delhi. South Africa gave the biggest defeat to host team India by 76 runs, which remained unbeaten in the group stage of the T20 World Cup and made it to the Super-8. The Indian team is under question due to the biggest defeat of the T20 World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium. This defeat exposed one of India’s biggest weaknesses in the tournament. This weakness was suppressed till the time Team India was winning, but a defeat has forced captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir to think.

Actually, the weakness we are talking about here is the continuous failure of India’s opening pair. Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan, while opening, have not given a single 50+ start to India in the tournament so far. The opening pair has become the biggest headache for Team India. Even in the match against South Africa, India’s opening pair disappointed. The opening pair has given only 34 runs to India in 5 matches of the T20 World Cup. Runs are coming from Ishan Kishan’s bat, but Abhishek Sharma’s continuous flopping has become a tension for the team. In four matches, both these batsmen came to open, while in one match, Sanju Samson got the chance to open in place of Abhishek.

Not a single run was scored against South Africa
To chase the target of 188 runs set by South Africa, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan came into the field to open the batting. However, Ishaan’s innings ended in just 4 balls and the Indian team’s opening pair could not score even a single run on the scoreboard. Ishaan’s account did not open, while Abhishek was out after scoring 15 runs. This is not the condition of this match only, but this has been the fate of India’s opening pair in the matches played so far. In the first match of the tournament against USA, Abhishek and Ishan Kishan were able to add only 8 runs while opening the innings. Abhishek was out without opening the account.

Abhishek Sharma’s bat is not working
Due to Abhishek being ill against Namibia, Ishan Kishan got a new partner in the form of Sanju Samson. However, the result was nothing special. Ishaan scored 61 runs in this match, but Sanju left after scoring 22 runs in 8 balls. The result was that India’s opening partnership could only add 25 runs. Abhishek Sharma returned to the playing eleven against Pakistan and he came to open the innings with Ishan Kishan. This time Team India’s opening pair broke after scoring just one run. Ishaan played explosively and scored 77 runs in 40 balls, but Abhishek was out without opening the account.

The story of failure of the opening partnership did not change against Netherlands also. Abhishek and Ishaan together could not add even a single run for the first wicket. Abhishek was out on zero, while Ishaan returned to the pavilion after scoring 18 runs. The Indian team’s worries have increased due to the continuous failure of the opening pair. If Team India has to defend the title on its own soil, then the pair of Abhishek and Ishan will have to bat with more responsibility in the coming matches. India faces Zimbabwe and West Indies in the remaining two Super-8 matches. To reach the semi-finals, India will have to not only win these two matches but also win by a big margin, because India’s net run rate has suffered a huge loss after losing to South Africa. Team India’s run rate has reached minus.