Kohli steps down as India captain with big win against Namibia in last Super-12 match.
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00:00Hello and welcome once again to Golf News Straight Back. Joining me tonight
00:04are Mr Cricket, UAE, Anis Sajjan and golf news expert Satish.
00:17Okay guys, we've seen the final Super 12 match of the T20 World Cup,
00:22India beat Namibia by nine wickets. Anis, what were your thoughts on the game?
00:27Hi Imran, hello Satish. Yes, a victory which India were expected to walk through Namibia
00:35but a bit too late. India must be sad that they have not been able to make it to a tournament
00:41where they were expected to be as favourites. They might regret the two losses to New Zealand
00:46and Pakistan but as I said that they were in a group where only three teams were strong and if
00:50you lose to two good teams then it's difficult to do the catch-up and that's what happened to
00:55Team India. But nonetheless, happy to sign off with a win and probably make sure that they're
00:59ready for the next year. Start planning for one year from now. Yeah, that's sensible. Satish,
01:06a lot was expected from this India team before the tournament. They were one of the favourites
01:11to go all the way and win it. What positives can they take from this now? The positives,
01:18I would say that they showed a tremendous fighting spirit when their backs were against the ball,
01:24like against Afghanistan. They had to win big and they were way down in terms of the run rate.
01:30They had to first win big so that they increase the run rate to give them a chance when they
01:35come into the last game. That is, they beat Afghanistan handsomely. They beat Scotland
01:41and even today they did well against Namibia. As Anisbhai said, in a team where there are only
01:47four test-playing nations and you lose to two of them, you can't win. But the positives, I would
01:53say Ashwin coming back to the team was a big positive because he showed what the Indian team
02:00was missing when he didn't play those two games. And of course, there are not many youngsters who
02:08have been tried here. So you can't really say that he is looking for the future or something
02:14on those lines. But let's hope that the new captain brings in the new luck, at least.
02:19Yeah, there's several reasons we've all gone through these, why India haven't made it to the
02:24semi-finals. For instance, the toss, which proved to be a decisive factor in most of these games.
02:30Kohli was unlucky. He lost the toss against Pakistan and New Zealand, the two big games.
02:36And India subsequently lost those two matches as well. Anis, do you think if the toss had been
02:41favourable to India, would the results have been different in those two games?
02:45You never know, Imran. Now, in hindsight, you can say that. But to be very honest,
02:50it's tough batting first in Dubai. And we've seen only one team able to defend that is England
02:57after losing the toss that was in charge. And most of the results have gone for the bigger
03:01teams I'm talking about, for the teams which has won the toss has gone on to win.
03:06And secondly, India's biggest weakness has been in the T20 is to set up a target.
03:11When they are put into bat first, they're not able to win more matches when they are batting
03:16first. But when they're chasing, they win almost 88 to 90% of the matches. So that shows a
03:21difference in gap that India are not good team when it comes to batting first. And it was exposed
03:29again, once again, in this tournament, people talk about the fatigue of bubble, too much of
03:34cricket, all said and done. But who knows what would have happened had India batted second.
03:39But at the moment, you have to accept they were beaten soundly by both Pakistan and New Zealand.
03:44And that's why they're out of the tournament. Satish, India's opening pair Rohit Sharma
03:48and Kale Rahul have come under some criticism for those first two games against Pakistan.
03:54Afridi got them both out quite cheaply. And against New Zealand, they were dismissed
04:01quite early then too. They obviously did well against Afghanistan, they did good against
04:05Scotland, they did good against Namibia. But to be honest, I mean, us guys could probably score
04:09against those guys. I mean, why couldn't they play when it mattered the most?
04:16See, that's where the planning comes in. T20 is all about the opening. Like if you get a good
04:21start, you win most of the matches until you get that. And that's where both the teams planned very
04:27well to make those inroads. So India should have also planned it better. But even at the start of
04:34the tournament, when the team was announced, I said, India's one batsman's shot. Because they
04:40were backing too much on these top three guys, Rohit Sharma, Rahul and Kohli to take them through
04:46where Suryakumar Yadav or Ishan Keshan were only about a few matches experienced in the international
04:52level. So that's where I think they made a mistake. Because once you get those one or two wickets,
04:57you didn't know how to go about. And of course, it's not about just the openers you should be
05:03scoring. If you look at even in Australia, there were matches when their openers failed. But
05:08subsequently, the other batsmen came and they rescued the team. So similarly, the first two
05:14matches, we were completely outplayed mentally, technically, skill-wise, everything. As the
05:21previous question, Anisbhai said, you can't blame the wicket for everything. As a champion side,
05:28you would want to go and prove yourself on any wicket that you play. Whatever the conditions
05:33be, whatever the situations you are, that's why it's called the World Cup. And you become the
05:37world champions by doing that way. So it is only one part of it. It's again unfair to just criticize
05:44them for those two errors. But again, even those two games, I think we went in with a bit of
05:51undercooked in those two games in terms of strategy.
05:56Anis, it seemed that the batsmen struggled to get the runs, especially in the middle overs.
06:01That's when they seemed to get bogged down and they just couldn't seem to hit
06:06freely. You've mentioned already Sharma struggling in that first game and Rahul,
06:11but also the likes of Pant and Pandya, you know, a couple of guys you would think would be
06:15really good finishers and help get the score up. Why did they struggle with the bat?
06:21Well, I'm glad you asked this question, Imran. You see, they came
06:25into this IPL and they played into difficult tracks. So when you play on difficult tracks,
06:31it's not that you can easily come and start hitting the ball from ball one when you come
06:36in the middle and when you've lost your early wickets. And that's what they carried into the
06:41World Cup couple of games. Where in the first game, you saw India with 34-0. In the second
06:46game, India lost three wickets, even though those were, I wouldn't say unlucky, whatever
06:50they hit in the air went into the hands of the New Zealand fielders. And you have to give credit to
06:55the opposition that they bowled well. Now, one important point, I'm glad I remembered this,
07:01India had two practice matches before they went into this IPL. Now, as I said in my earlier
07:06statement that India are not poor, India are very poor when they set a target. In both the games,
07:12India won the toss and decided to field. Now, that is where sometimes you need to have the
07:17long vision. You're already a good team as a chaser. Why wouldn't you bat first? Okay, you
07:22are playing on a different wicket. ICC academy is much more flatter. But if you had made that attempt
07:27that how do I break that rut of putting up a target, get into the practice group, maybe you
07:32would have lost both the matches. But then by that time, you would have known that these are the
07:36faults I've made. In the third match, I'm ready. They didn't do that. They decided to field first.
07:41Okay, it's always good to go with a victory in a practice game because you have the confidence.
07:45But sometimes I've always believed defeat teaches you more than victory.
07:49Correct. That's a very good point. Yeah, it seems that they didn't learn from the mistakes there.
07:54Satish, I mean, we've discussed the batsmen there, but the bowlers also struggled in those first two
07:59games. They only managed to get two wickets, none against Pakistan and only two against New Zealand.
08:05I mean, was dropping Ashwin in those first two games and opting for a newcomer,
08:09Chakraborty, that seemed to backfire badly, didn't it?
08:14No. In those two games, you bring even the best of the best bowlers, they wouldn't have got the
08:18wickets for the simple reason… See, cricket is all about putting pressure on the batter, basically.
08:24Like, if there's no pressure, you can't get those wickets. With 120, 150 on board and you don't get
08:30those early wickets, you'll leak runs. And when there's no pressure, you can't get wickets. You
08:35can't blame the bowlers per se. I wouldn't go that way. Yes, Ashwin would have… Maybe he would
08:42have got you that extra wicket. But maybe instead of losing by 10 wickets or 8 wickets, we would have
08:48lost by 7 wickets and 5 wickets. But that's about it. The runs were not there on the board, both the
08:54games. They were at least 30 to 40 runs short. That's where a couple of good overs in the middle
08:59would have put some pressure on the batsmen who would have tried something new and made those
09:03mistakes. Those who try something different, other than what they are in the comfort zone,
09:08generally makes mistakes in cricket. So, the Indian team… Indian bowlers never had the chance to
09:13put these batters under pressure on those two games. So, you can't blame the bowlers for sure.
09:18Of course, if you had picked Ashwin, it would have been a good asset. No doubt about it. He proved
09:23those… All those three matches that he played after that, he showed that he is a wicket-taking
09:27bowler and what India missed, he showed. But he wouldn't have made a big difference.
09:34Similarly, yesterday, if you look at Afghanistan the same way, like 120,
09:39they had probably the best spinners in the entire world. Like, three of them can turn the match
09:44around. But they couldn't put the same pressure on the batters. So, it's about the runs and putting
09:49pressure on the batsmen consistently by bowling good overs. But once you don't do the first half,
09:55that is putting the runs on the board, it's difficult for the bowlers to restrict the batters.
10:00Anes, you touched on the IPL just earlier. Many people were saying that because several of the
10:06Indian players have played in the IPL here in the UAE, that they would have been used to the
10:11conditions and used to the pitches. Other people are saying that they needed a break from such a
10:17long season and going straight into the T20. What are your thoughts on that?
10:21Well, there can be two sides of the coin, Imran. Like, if you look at the point from the coach's
10:27view, like Bharat Arun mentioned that they needed a little bit of break or they had the bubble
10:32fatigue. But if you have to ask me, honestly, they had an ideal preparation playing in the
10:38conditions where they were going to play the World Cup. So, you cannot ask for a bad preparation.
10:43It's like when you go to England and you want to play a test match, you need to play a few
10:47practice match before you play the first test match to get used to the conditions. So, India
10:51had the best preparation. Okay, yes, they have been playing too much cricket. But for that,
10:56the board should have planned this well in advance that if they are going to send,
10:59for the England set series, you have to take out some players for the IPL who don't play.
11:04And Rohit Sharma, Bharat Kohli and K. R. Rahul were the three players in the batting department
11:10who were the key batsmen of the T20. So, that long shot should have been taken. Is the World Cup
11:17important? Is the England series important? Or you don't play the IPL? If you have to ask me,
11:24if you have not won a World Cup from the beginning after 2007, I would prepare more
11:29for the T20 World Cup than think about the England series. But that's everybody's opinion.
11:33Everybody will have a different opinion. And nothing wrong in it.
11:37Satish, was it fatigue?
11:40I think what was also… I have to give that benefit of doubt to the Indian boarders. Because
11:46at that time, India were touring England. It was not sure whether the T20 World Cup would happen,
11:52where it will happen, how it will happen. These were the questions in everybody's mind. But yes,
11:57of course, after deciding on the World Cup, maybe they could have thought about the IPL,
12:03which they could have staggered it, if they thought it could have been a difficult
12:09scenario for the players. But I don't think even before the start of the World Cup,
12:14none of the players complained.
12:17They did not complain, it's right. But you are in England from May.
12:21Yeah, correct.
12:22Second or third week of May, I think they landed in England in May. They played the
12:28ICC Test Championship in the first week of June or probably whichever day. I think after two weeks.
12:34Then you are playing a tough series against a team like England, which is not easy.
12:38We managed to beat them. You come back, you play the IPL. And then you play the World Cup. Trust
12:44me, we doing commentary for the IPL, as well as the World Cup has drained me off as a person,
12:51which is 15-20 minutes and you guys have been writing all day. So it's tough on us. Imagine
12:56the players on the field. So there's no excuses. But if you have a vision, you have a plan,
13:02you can make sure that you give rest and a lot of Australian players took rest,
13:05a lot of England players took rest. So it should have been decided, what is your priority? Is the
13:10World Cup your priority? Is your IPL your priority? Or the ICC Test Series your priority?
13:15That's what I was coming to on this one. Because after the England series, but once you decided on
13:18the World Cup, then IPL you could have planned it differently. Or the players could have planned it
13:24differently. That didn't happen. That's what I was trying to about to finish it.
13:27Okay, guys. This was Kohli's last match as India's T20 captain. He'll be obviously very
13:33disappointed to bow out without winning a major tournament as India captain. That's how you create
13:39a legacy. I mean, MS Dhoni, he did that. Kohli did make India the number one test team. But
13:46how do you think he's going to be remembered, Satish, as captain?
13:50See, great players not necessarily need to make us great captains. If you look at Sachin Tendulkar
13:55had a very bad stint as a captain. So you can't generalise or you can't judge a person based on
14:02his captaincy. Yes, he did try. He could have. He had chances. He could have got it. With the
14:07talent he had, with the support he had, he could have easily got it. But again, in cricket, you
14:13don't aspire. Whatever you want to aspire, you can't get it. That's the way the sport works.
14:18So, I don't think it's any blot on his career or anything. Yes, he would have felt bad that,
14:23you know, like, yes, I didn't get a major one. But I don't want to judge him based on the
14:28captaincy. Because he's a great player. Whatever he has achieved and he's going to achieve is far
14:34more than what we think of. And Anish, Shastri goes and Dravid comes in. What are you hoping
14:41he's going to change? I want to add on Satish's point about Virat Kohli as a captain. To be very
14:47honest, India had the likes, greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, the Lakshmans, the Sevaks.
14:54But I have to tell India had never found a player like Virat Kohli, who has won India so many matches
15:01on the basis of his batting skill. I don't remember any captain scoring 400 out of which
15:07we have won 27 ODIs chasing, which speaks about his volume, about his talent as a cricketer.
15:14Now, when you talk about his captainship, yes, he couldn't win an IPL title. And this was his
15:18first World Cup as a T20 captain. So, it's not that he's captain many. Yes, IPL title, I agree.
15:25Eight out of eight, he's not won. But sometimes it drops on your cabinet of the ICC events. So,
15:34as a captain, yes, he's failed. But as a player, I hope India finds somebody as great as Virat
15:40Kohli. Tendulkar must have scored leaps of runs. But tell me how many matches India has won.
15:45Whereas Virat Kohli has probably scored even half of runs India has won, half of those matches.
15:51I'm sure Satish will agree to this point.
15:56Absolutely, Anish bhai. Absolutely.
15:58And Anish, I was just bringing a point in Shastri. Yes, he's gone.
16:04And Dravid comes in. What changes do you think Dravid can make?
16:09The advantage of Rahul Dravid has been that he's been already doing the coaching job with the
16:13U19 as well as the National Cricket Academy of India. So, that experience he has, he has that
16:18eye for talent. That will definitely help. And he's also played cricket at the highest level.
16:23But like Satish mentioned, good players don't become good captains or good coaches. We need to
16:29see Rahul Dravid managing the senior team is going to be the same as he managed the junior team. It
16:35all boils down to when he plays or goes into the ring of fire and test his, shows his talent that
16:41he's equally a good, like he was a good player, he's a good coach. Only time will say. Too early
16:46to say. Guys, just another point, just going back to Kohli. Before the tournament started,
16:52he announced he's going to be stepping down as the captain and he was criticized for the timing
16:57of his announcement. I mean, he could have easily kept that to himself well after the tournament
17:02finished and then announced it. Some people are saying that by saying that before the tournament,
17:06it's unsettled the team, possibly. I mean, Anish, do you think that had any factor on the way the
17:11team played? Not really. He announced it long ago, immediately during the IPL. I think before
17:18the IPL or during the IPL. So he had given enough time. It's easy now to pinpoint. I would look at
17:24the other way. If at all he has announced it, maybe the team might get motivated to give him
17:29a proper send-off. But yes, they had that two bad days, I would rather say, not off days,
17:34where they were beaten soundly by the opposition. You have to give credit to the opposition. And as
17:39I said, they were in a group where there was no return. In the other group, if you see,
17:43there was Sri Lanka, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa. Anybody could beat anybody
17:49on that day. And that's what happened. South Africa lost to Australia. Australia lost to
17:56England. England lost to South Africa. Still South Africa couldn't make it. But in this scenario,
18:00you lose to the two teams. There's no way you're coming back unless there's an upset. And there was
18:06rarely, as a fan, you would like to have an upset. But in cricketing terms, upsets don't happen.
18:12Once in a while, it happens.
18:13So look, the first semi-final is on Wednesday between England and New Zealand in Abu Dhabi.
18:18And then the next day, it's Pakistan against Australia in Dubai. It's time for some predictions.
18:23Who is going to win the World Cup? Anis, you go first.
18:28Tough one, Imran. You know what I had mentioned in the start of the tournament, it would be India.
18:34So now if I had to pick one team, as much as I would love Pakistan to win it,
18:38I would pick Australia to win this World Cup.
18:41Same here. Same here. Because they are picking at the right time. And somebody like Warner or
18:47Finch coming into the form just before the crucial games, it's an ominous sign for the
18:56opposition. So it is Australia, I would say.
19:05I'm still saying England, but now losing Roy and also Mills.
19:11Losing Jason Roy is a big, big blow. Mind you, Johnny Besto is out of sorts.
19:15Morgan is out of sorts. So who's going to score the runs?
19:19Butler has to score all the runs. But again, most importantly.
19:23And most importantly, Mills was bowling those four good overs where you get those two quick
19:29wickets. So that was more crucial in my opinion.
19:32I wouldn't be surprised if they get beaten by New Zealand in the semi-final.
19:35It's going to be a tough ask now. Okay, guys, I think we'll leave it there for tonight. Thanks
19:38to my guests. We'll be back to see how both those semi-final matches go. Meanwhile, you can log into
19:44gulfnews.com for all the latest news, reviews, videos and loads more. Thanks and good night.