Picture Credit: Twitter
It wasn't evidently the best performance by an Indian team at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday against New Zealand. In a crunch T20 World Cup match where the Men in Blue needed to win to keep their semifinal qualification equation in their own hands, the team encountered a shocking 8-wicket defeat.
The loss was India's second successive defeat in the Super 12 and India are more or less set to make an early exit from the competition, having to chase a virtually impossible equation from here, not entirely in their own hands, to reach the final four.
Following two back-to-back defeats by the world number 2 side and a team that had been regarded as the favourites to win the competition, India skipper Virat Kohli has been facing a lot of criticism. However, former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin believes that it is not one man that should be blamed since the entire team as well as the coaching staff has failed.
He added that it turned out to be quite a scary Halloween for the Indian fans who were expecting to celebrate a bounce-back win after the loss against arch-rivals Pakistan.
"Virat Kohli is facing criticism but it’s the entire team and the coaches that have failed and not just one man. It turned out to be a scary Halloween for Indian fans. #INDvsNZ #T20WORLDCUP," he wrote on Twitter.
Here is his Tweet:
Don't think we were brave enough with bat or ball: Kohli
Meanwhile, captain Kohli said that the team was not brave enough with the bat or ball and did not have a positive body language, to begin with.
"I don't think we were brave enough with bat or ball. We were not brave enough with our body language," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
"We didn't have much to defend but we weren't brave when we walked out to field. When you play for the Indian cricket team you have a lot of expectations -- not just from fans, but players as well," he added.
"So there's always going to be more pressure with our games and we've embraced it over the years. Everyone who plays for India has to embrace it. And when you cope together as a team you overcome it and we haven't done it these two games," he further said.
India have three more matches left in the Super 12 round- against Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia- and will have to hope for big wins in each one of them, also hoping that some of the other results go in their favour.