Why Tigers crumbled under Kangaroo might

Disappointing, depressing, saddening. As I rummaged mentally for apt descriptives to fit the general feeling after the CWC Final, these terms quickly came to mind. However, I rejected all three as not being strong enough. I think the word that conveys the depth of feeling most accurately is 'Heartbreaking'. That Sunday, 19 November, what the country witnessed was massive, collective, heartbreak.

The moment the Aussies scored the magic 241st run, there was deafening silence - among the Indian players, in the 100,000 strong crowd at the Narendra Modi stadium - and across the country. Children went about with sullen pouts, adults with long faces. At the same time, the massive roar from the Australian fans hit the Indian players like a tonne of bricks. Some cried openly, some hid their faces, while others looked resigned in the face of defeat.

This was the very team that marched into the Final on the strength of a superlative performance. The team that launched its glorious World Cup 2023 campaign by beating formidable Australia by 6 wickets; then went on to beat Sri Lanka and South Africa - the former by 302 runs and the latter by 243 runs. Arriving at the Final after beating New Zealand in the semis by 70 runs (with a massive total of 397). Great and glorious by any standards.

After scaling 10 peaks, our heroes in Blue were supposed to attain the summit, plant the Tricolour there - and cover themselves in international glory. By any calculation, on paper and on the ground - this was a team with an impenetrable armour. So what happened on Final Day? Where was the chink in their armour?

The purpose of this article is not to crucify the Men in Blue for their shocking loss. Rather, this article is an attempt to understand the real reasons for the unexpected defeat. Now that the dust has settled, it’s worth examining the causes that led to the shocking event. Though Indian cricketers are demi-gods for their doting fans, they are after all, only human - with all the accompanying weaknesses.

It seems these are the very weaknesses - the chinks in the Indian armour - that the shrewd Australians exploited. To begin with, the Blues got off to a wrong start, when they lost the toss and got to bat. Never mind that, as Rohit said, they wanted to bat anyway so they got what they wanted. No doubt the Indian openers put up a valiant show but began to crumble soon after the loss of the third wicket. After that, they simply struggled to make their bats talk and collapsed like a house of cards.

While the Kangaroo bouncers got them out attempting to hit sixes, their fours were effectively stopped by the water-tight fielding. Which left them to notch up the score in ones and twos, which amounted to a measly total of 240 - too low to defend against a toughie like Australia. Leaving the Indian team in a precarious situation.

And what about the quality of Indian fielding? Certainly sub-standard for a World Cup Final. While the Aussies dived like hawks at every ball - driving the Indian batters to desperation - Indian fielding left the boundaries undefended and regularly breached. And batting? While the Aussie batters hit giant sixers right into the crowd, Indian attempts at sixes got them caught. Sometime after the middle order crumbled, the cameras zoomed into the Indian dugout. One look at the bowlers huddled together said it all - they looked nervous, fidgety and demoralised.

So where was the bravado, the confidence, the swagger that got them to the Final? Some experts have suggested that the Indian side suffered from an "epic loss of power" at the most inopportune moments. However, most psychoanalysts assert that it was nothing more than a 'bad hair' day. Bad hair day? Right on the Final, of all days?

Let's just accept that the Indian juggernaut - spectacular but powerless - ran full tilt into the turbo-charged Australian Audi. Basking in the glory of their brilliant 10-win show, and puffed up with overdone media hype, perhaps the Blues did not realise that the Yellows were not sitting idle all this time. They were perfecting their fight behind the scenes.

The Kangaroos came to the clash with a foolproof strategy, and followed it through with deadly precision. Exactly what the Blues should have done but failed to do. At the crucial moments, the Indians were intimidated by the deadly Aussie bowling, getting pinned down to 240 despite best efforts. Finally, in the second innings, with no plan and zero confidence, Indian bowlers were abjectly humiliated by Kangaroos hitting fours and sixes with impunity.

And what about the body language of the Indian side? Shaky, under-confident, defeatist. To a lot of spectators, it must have looked like a school team playing the national champions. However, to end on a positive note amidst the gloom, though the Indian team is understandably broken-spirited, there's nothing so broke it can't be fixed. Mental blocks can be cleared, fear psychosis can be cured and Captain and Coach could together hammer out a winning strategy for next time. And we have four years to do it in.

BY SHARIKA MUTHU

The author is a free-lance writer and translator based in Gurgaon.