T20 World Cup: India capitulate to New Zealand, semi-final hopes dim

India‘s hopes of making the semifinals at the ongoing T20 World Cup took a big blow after another comprehensive defeat, losing to New Zealand by eight wickets at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. A reshuffled batting order imploded against a clinical bowling attack as the Men in Blue were restricted to a paltry total of 110 for the loss of seven from 20 overs, which the Kiwis chased down with 33 deliveries to spare. 

Trent Boult extended India’s struggles against left-arm pace with a three wicket haul while Ish Sodhi‘s man-of-the-match performance made light work of their most experienced batsmen in Rohit Sharma and skipper Virat Kohli. 

There will be further inquest on Kohli’s captaincy after two consecutive humiliations at the showpiece event, which is the 32-year-old’s last assignment as skipper in the shortest format. India’s abject showing in both matches might also jeopardise Kohli’s ODI captaincy. 

Daryl Mitchell (49 off 35 balls) and skipper Kane Williamson (33 not out off 31 balls) chased down the target in only 14.3 overs.

This was after India didn’t effectively score runs in nine of their 20 overs, recording 54 dot balls in their innings. They also managed to hit just a single boundary between overs 8 and 15 when the two spinners were in operation.

The equation for India now gets muddled up and only Afghanistan’s victory over New Zealand can raise hopes of an outside chance to qualify for the semi-finals. That too if they win all their remaining matches against Afghanistan, Namibia and Scotland.

Also Read | T20 World Cup: Road ahead for India after defeat to New Zealand

New Zealand exposed the outfit’s inadequacies, mostly poor mindset and atrocious shot selection, something that was exploited to the hilt by Pakistan just a week back.

Ishan Kishan, brought in for an injured Suryakumar Yadav and with the hopes of injecting some aggression at the top of the order, failed to make a mark, dismissed by Mumbai Indians teammate Boult early in the innings. 

India struggled to form partnerships as the Kiwi bowlers kept picking up wickets in regular intervals, with Ravindra Jadeja top-scoring with a 19-ball 26.