India had marched into the semifinals of the ICC World Cup as the undisputed league toppers. One loss (to hosts England) and one no-result (against New Zealand) due to rain made the 2011 champions rousing favourites to reach their second World Cup final in eight years.
However, as skipper Virat Kohli put it — ‘45 minutes of bad cricket’ resulted in India’s ouster from the World Cup. As a result, there were talks from some quarters whether knockout stages in the global tournament could be held in an IPL-style ‘playoff’ format.
In the IPL, the top two teams get two chances to reach the finals — by playing and winning Qualifier 1 they can enter the title match or if they lose Qualifier 1, they have a second chance by playing the Qualifier 2.
“Who knows in the future. Maybe. If topping the table means anything. I think these things can come into consideration, looking at the magnitude of this tournament. That is a really valid point. You never know when that is going to be implemented,” Kohli said in the post-match press conference in Manchester on Wednesday (July 10).
However, the Indian skipper also believes that the semifinals have their own charm in World Cups and bring their own pressures.
“But I think that’s the challenge and different kind of fun of these games as well that you have to be precise. It doesn’t matter what you have done before that.
“It’s a fresh day, fresh start, and if you are not good enough, you go home. So you have to accept that, as I said. It’s a different challenge for all the teams to turn up on that day and be absolutely at the top of their game and whoever does that they get the result, as you saw today,” the Indian skipper added.
