Why India lost in the ICC WTC Final 2021 against New Zealand?

The much anticipated and long-awaited ICC World Test Championship comes to an end. ICC was severely criticized for scheduling the most important final match in a weather-affected month in England. Most of the fans were really disappointed that the match is not going to have a result with 2 complete days washed off by rain and other days affected by intermittent rains and bad light.

A lot of overs were lost and to cover this only a reserve day was there. Finally, the weather gods showed mercy and the reserve day was a perfect day with a lot of sunshine and no dark clouds at all. Then also a result was not possible if the Indian team could bat longer.

The renowned Indian batting but collapsed like a pile of cards in such an important period of the match which is recently happening to Indian cricket in very important knockout matches like a semi-final or a final. It is the 2013 Champions Trophy that India won last after getting 2011 World Cup but, they never failed to be in the final 4 of the tournaments that happened after.

A draw would have shared the test mace. The Indian team couldn’t come close to the black caps on the final reserve day of the match. New Zealand completely outplayed India both with the ball and bat that one final day which made the difference and finally India losing the match.

The Failure

The way the New Zealand team played; they deserved the trophy but India was not bad. Only India was not able to capitalize some important moments of the matches with some lacking consistency. The execution of plans from New Zealand was excellent and sometimes Indian batsmen just so easily fell for that.

It’s the New Zealand bowlers that made them win. They were not giving any easy time for the Indian batting. Their 1^st innings batting was similar to India but finally fetching an important 32 runs lead.  They were really cautious during the 2^nd innings, not getting overjoyed of a small target to chase, and were not overconfident of easily chasing that down.

Indian Batting

The most important question is whether India lose the match because of their batting or bowling. I will say that it’s the batting that failed the more. After losing the toss India was put to bat under really difficult conditions. The overcast sky with some small showers and wet outfield and enormous movement of the ball was tough for the batsmen to not lose their wickets.

Indian openers did well getting a partnership and not losing the wickets till 20 overs in the first innings. After that, the openers departed in quick succession. But Pujara and Kohli batted so cautiously before Pujara being undone by a Boult masterclass. After that also Kohli and Rahane batted beautifully and the day's play halted at 146/3.

Up to this time, India was having the upper hand but Kiwis came into the match getting rid of Kohli early the next day, and Pant falling cheaply being too cautious and finally playing a bad shot. Rahane was playing awesome but the way he gifted his wicket made him a hero to zero. It was so very bad getting out in that fashion in such an important phase of the game.

After that, it was a cakewalk for New Zealand bowlers except for a counter-attacking Ashwin getting some boundaries and runs and making India cross the 200 run mark. The way the tail ended the innings should make us say that India doesn’t have a tail. Of course, it’s not the duty of the tail to score runs but we should see how good New Zealand tail was enabling them to get 32 runs important lead.

Both teams’ 1^st innings batting was really similar except that Kiwi tail-enders scored some runs. The final day was the better day to bat with the sun out. One must say that Indian batting was really bad giving away wickets cheaply and not getting good partnerships. It was enough for India to bat until the 2^nd session of the day to ensure they don’t lose.

Instead, India crumbled their important wickets in the 1^st session cheaply and finally getting all out in the middle of 2^nd session giving a target of 139 for New Zealand in 53 overs to chase. We saw Kohli, Pujara, Rahane all giving their wickets so easily, whom India was looking up to save the match.

Indian Bowling

Bowling was better compared to batting, but if we compare with the New Zealand bowling it was not up to the mark. It was always evident that India was short of a pacer. I discussed that in my previous post too (read here). Bumrah didn’t perform to his standards and sometimes Ishant was not up to the mark.

Shami was the best bowler India had and it was to him that the Kiwis struggled. He constantly tested the opposition and was the most successful for India. Ashwin also performed decently picking some wickets with no aid for him from the pitch.

Even though Indian bowlers restricted New Zealand to a small lead, it was a good one for them under these conditions. The fact that India once reduced New Zealand to 135/5 in the 1^st innings shows that their final score of 249 was good. Indian bowlers couldn’t capitalize the moment New Zealand was under pressure during the 1st innings.

This is the time I felt more that Bumrah and Ishant just didn’t meet their standards and the lack of a 4^th pacer badly. With Shami being the only threat and no extra pace bowler to rotate and give some breathing time for him, Kohli really may have felt the pressure. So, in my opinion, the team selection really played a role in India’s defeat.

By a heartbroken fan expecting India will come back hard winning big tournaments. 😇