We did not want to win, so we lost!

Raju Korti

Pic courtesy ICC/Twitter

There is a thing called intent in Sport. It is primarily and predominantly about winning a game. Since winning or losing is a part of the game, the least teams can do is to try and make a match of it. But the way India capitulated yesterday before a resurgent Kiwis, it appeared that there was neither any intention to win nor any resolve to put up even a semblance of fight.

To all those who sat through the truncated game that saw more than half the duration of match lost to inclement weather, the Indians looked so meek and forbearing that they seemed more keen on losing than the Kiwis wanting to win. The only player who looked fierce on the field was Ravichandran Ashwin who justified his selection on a patently seaming wicket that was exploited to the hilt by the New Zealanders. The other ten just seemed to be going through motions with no sense of purpose.

To me, the single most dominant factor that divided the performance of the two teams was the quality of bowling. The Kiwi bowlers swung the ball prodigiously in perfectly seaming conditions but the Indians, for all their much crowed batting line up, seemed to have relapsed into the pre-70s era when they would invariably get out flirting with outgoing deliveries. I refuse to believe that a Test playing nation that prides on being Number One in ICC ranking can be so spunkless.

I recall what the late Ajit Wadekar, elevated as India's captain in 1971 through a casting vote, had said when the Indians were touring the mighty West Indies. Asked how his batsmen would cope with the Windies' fast bowling battery, he replied, "good batsmen are not afraid of good bowlers." His side justified that confidence. Any rationale for preparing pitches that suit the home side is a lame excuse since every hosting team does it. It is all about how well you adapt to the different conditions and pitches overseas.

Jamieson, Boult, Southee and Wagner bowled to a plan and just did not allow the Indians to free their arms. From the first day (which was actually the second) the Indians looked like they had given up. After that pathetic display in the first innings, they just didn't have the guts to fight. Indian captain Virat Kohli should take a cue or two from rival skipper Kane Williamson who looked calm, poised and self-assured. The Indian captain looks grumpy and angry most of the times when the chips are down and sports wicked smiles and gesticulations when winning. It has lost on him that a leader can be assertive and level-headed in desperate situations.

Full credit to the Kiwis who missed the last World Cup by a whisker. Having endured the understated agony of losing the World Cup, they had a point to prove and they did just that. The Indians just made it easier for them. How the Kiwis rid their ghosts of the World Cup semis and finals; shrugging off the disappointment that permeated their side in destiny's sweepstakes! Remember how the same Kane Williamson glided through the blues of that dramatic superover with the customary elan that he is come to be known for. Our man just huffs and puffs in crises.

That brings me to the post-match comments that Kohli made where he indicated "he might bring in right people with right mindset to perform" in the Test side just like their white ball set-up where they have multiple players ready to shoulder responsibility at the highest level. That's a rash comment because he obviously doesn't realize its implications. Does he mean that the present team with him as the presiding deity doesn't have that right mindset? Or is he casting aspersions on the judgement of the selectors who are "supposed to select the best playing eleven"? For that matter, does he think his team members are not right? By referring to "multiple players ready to shoulder responsibility at the highest level" he is also making a mockery of India's much tom tommed bench strength of batsmen and bowlers. In his complacency and assured place in the side, he has trashed his own team members without realising that this shit will hit the fan sooner than later. The message from Kohli is loud and clear: If at all any heads have to roll in the aftermath of this wretched defeat, it won't be his. 

As an aside, in the interests of positivity, this blog deserves the picture of New Zealanders in celebration not the beaten Indians. Sporting spirit should make us applaud the Blackcaps who finally got there and deservingly so. They were led by Kane who is also Able.