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The ICC T20 World Cup 2021 was a return for the tournament after five years which turned out to be a nightmare for Team India. In recent years, the 2021 T20 World Cup was probably the worst for the Men in Blue. The Indian team were led by Virat Kohli and were dubbed as one of the favourties with an incredible squad and a mentor in MS Dhoni. But they failed to reach the knockouts and suffered a massive defeat against arch-rivals Pakistan.
In this article, we’ll take you through India’s performance at the ICC T20 World Cup 2021.
India’s squad for T20 World Cup 2021
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami.
Reserve players: Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.
India’s grouping and placements
Team India directly qualified for the Super 12s stage as they were the hosts as the tournament was slated to take place in India. But due the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was moved the Oman and UAE. In the Super 12s, the Men in Blue were in Group 2 with Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia.
Super 12s
The tournament started in the worst possible manner for Team India as Pakistan registered their first ever World Cup win over the Men in Blue. Babar Azam's men dismantled India in their tournament opener with a 10-wicket margin.
After this colossal defeat, trouble continued for India as they lost against New Zealand and were virtually eliminated from the tournament. In the remaining games against Afghanistan, Namibia and Scotland, the Men in Blue went undefeated as they finished third in Group 2 and failed to reach the semi-finals.
