Former all-rounder Irfan Pathan criticised India’s team selection and the changes they made in their playing XI against New Zealand after the team’s second-straight defeat in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 Super 12 on Sunday.
India had to replace Suryakumar Yadav with Ishan Kishan due to the former’s back injury while all-rounder Shardul Thakur came in for the out-of-form Bhuvneshwar Kumar but both flopped with bat and ball in Dubai.
Kishan opened the batting along with KL Rahul while Rohit Sharma dropped to No. 3 but even that move didn’t work. Kishan scored just 4 runs from 8 balls while Rohit made 14 from as many balls in India’s below-par total of 110 for 7 in 20 overs.
Ravindra Jadeja top-scored with 26 not out while Hardik Pandya made 23 while the rest all failed to fire. New Zealand, the bogey team for India at global events over the years, embarrassed Virat Kohli’s men, who didn’t even show any stomach for a fight after their skipper lost an important toss.
During the run chase, Daryl Mitchell made a fluent 49 and skipper Kane Williamson remained not out on 33 as New Zealand triumphed with 8 wickets in hand and 33 balls to spare to bounce back from the defeat by Pakistan in their tournament opener.
Pathan was surprised with the changes they made for this game and expressed his displeasure on Twitter after the humiliating defeat.
“In any big tournament you can’t change the playing 11 in just one game and get desired results. Players need stability And I’m surprised this is happening with some big names taking decisions,” Pathan tweeted.
India, who suffered a 10-wicket defeat in their opening game against Pakistan, will now have to win their remaining 3 games by a big margin and depend on other results to stand a chance of qualifying for the semifinals from Group 2.
