Ex-India coach Sandeep Patil appalled by Kohli & Co having to rely on other teams for semis berth; also blames reshuffling of batting order
India players await a review decision during their T20 World Cup encounter against Pakistan at Dubai recently. Pic/Getty Images
Former India batsman and coach Sandeep Patil has highlighted how perplexing India’s approach was in the ICC T20 World Cup, which ended for the 2007 champions on Monday. “It’s absolutely ridiculous that Team India had to pray and depend on other teams to qualify for the semi-finals. We have so many superstars in our team,” Patil told mid-day as the Virat Kohli-led team couldn’t make the semi-finals after the New Zealand against Afghanistan clash did not end up in an upset on Sunday.
Mistakes aplenty
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Sandeep Patil
“There were plenty of mistakes made by the team management. Why did they send Rohit Sharma at No. 3 after a failure in only one match? By doing that they did not do his confidence any good. They changed the batting order unnecessarily—after losing only one match [against Pakistan]? Swapping Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja’s batting positions in the games against Pakistan and New Zealand made no sense as well,” said Patil, who was chairman of selectors from 2012 to 2016.
Unimpressive Bumrah
The former dashing batsman was not impressed with Jasprit Bumrah being sent to speak to the media after the loss to New Zealand on October 31. “Why did they send Bumrah? He made a very loose comment about facing difficulties while being in the bio-bubble. Why did they not say any such thing when they were in England; why didn’t they speak about it during the IPL? Is there a new rule, which says that the coach will not meet the press if the team loses? I can’t understand why the coach [Ravi Shastri] did not come for the media briefing,” wondered Patil.
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