Hits and Misses - ICC World T20 2012, Team India

India

Hits

1. Virat Kohli once again showed why he is called one of the best batsman currently going around. His innings of 78* in the high pressure chase against arch rivals Pakistan was one of the fondest memories of the World Twenty20 for the average Indian fan.

2. The part time, almost innocuous, left arm spin of Yuvraj Singh troubled every opposition that India played against. Yuvraj bagged 8 wickets in the tournament.

3. Balaji made full use of the limited opportunities that he got and picked up 9 wickets to end up as the joint 4th highest wicket taker in this ICC World Twenty20 held in Sri Lanka.

Misses

1. India started their campaign with a scratchy win against a spirited Afghan side. The Afghan team dropped about 5 catches and gave away numerous extras but still lost the game by just 20 odd runs. Showed what might have been if all the catches had been held and exposed India's frailties.

2. The Indian openers, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, struggled right through the tournament and Sehwag was also dropped for a couple of games. When Sehwag was dropped, the effectiveness of the decision was offset by making Irfan Pathan to open the innings. He scratched around in both the games that he opened and India lost early momentum which they could have had if they had opened with Virat Kohli.

3. Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan were largely ineffective and leaked runs far too easily while they were also not able to pick early wickets.

4. India won 4 of the 5 games that they played at the World Twenty20 but one of this was against Afghanistan, another an inconsequential game against England in the group stage and one against South Africa which was won after the place in the semi final was lost!!!

5. India needed to restrict South Africa to under 122 in the last Super Eight game to make it to the Semi Final stage. The field placing was so conservative that India did not look like they were ever looking to defend 122. Fielders were placed on the boundary and singles were gifted on a platter. Ashwin's overs were kept in the bank for reasons best known to MS Dhoni. It was a brilliant showcase in 'How Not to Captain A Cricket Team'.


See the previous post's in Hits and Misses,

Team South Africa
Team New Zealand
Team England