Ganesh Kendale
NEW DELHI: What’s common between the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup and the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup? Both the tournaments were relocated to the UAE, for different reasons.
What’s another common factor? In 2021, the Indian men’s cricket team failed to make it to the knockouts. In 2024, a semi-final berth looks unlikely for the Indian women’s team.
The Men’s T20 World Cup was originally scheduled to be held in Australia in 2020 but was pushed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The tournament was then relocated to India and then again relocated to the UAE due to the pandemic.
Despite being one of the pre-tournament favourites, India had a disappointing campaign. Their performance in the Super 12 stage fell below expectations, resulting in an early exit.
To add salt to their wounds, India lost to arch-rivals Pakistan for the first time in an ICC World Cup, with Shaheen Afridi starring with the ball (3/31) and Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan putting on an unbeaten 152-run opening partnership.
It was the 200th international cricket match between India and Pakistan and the first time in 13 attempts that Pakistan beat India in either ODI or T20 World Cups. It was also the first time that India lost a T20I by 10 wickets.
In crucial matches against Pakistan and New Zealand, India’s top-order struggled to perform under pressure, leading to below-par totals. India’s team combination and tactics were also questioned, including the absence of a sixth bowling option in the early games.
Back-to-back defeats to Pakistan and New Zealand left India in a must-win situation, and although they won their last three matches, it wasn’t enough to advance.
India finished third in their Super 12 group with six points (three wins, two losses), failing to qualify for the semifinals. On net run rate, India were behind Pakistan and New Zealand, who progressed.
This World Cup marked the last tournament for Virat Kohli as India’s T20 captain and for Ravi Shastri as head coach of the team.
Cut to 2024 for the Women’s T20 World Cup and you have a team led by Harmanpreet Kaur hoping for Pakistan’s victory against New Zealand to go through the semifinals.
This edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup was originally scheduled to be held in Bangladesh but was relocated due to political disturbances in the country.
India lost their opening encounter against New Zealand by 58 runs. Though India beat Pakistan by 6-wickets in their next match, the win didn’t boost their net run rate.
The 82-run victory against Sri Lanka meant India’s semi-final hopes were still alive provided they won big against defending champions Australia.
But in their final group stage encounter on Sunday, India lost to Australia by 9-runs.
While the defending champions qualified with eight points, India are now placed second with four points and a NRR of 0.322.
India’s fate rests on the outcome of the match between New Zealand (0.282) and Pakistan on Monday.
India will qualify for the semis if Pakistan beat New Zealand on Monday by no more than 53 runs if they bat first; with no more than 9.1 overs remaining if they chase (assuming that a first innings score is of 150 in both cases).
Whatever the outcome, one thing is for sure that going by the result of both the Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 and the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, UAE has not been a happy hunting ground for India cricket teams in ICC tournaments.
