The former Indian wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel reckons that one of the main reasons why India has lost big knockout games in the ICC tournaments in recent years is because they have made a lot of tactical mistakes which have proven very costly.
Parthiv Patel was speaking on the Cricbuzz post-match show after the conclusion of the 5th T20I between India and West Indies and he specifically talked about ICC Champions trophy 2017 and ODI World Cup 2019, two ICC tournaments in which India dominated in the league phase, but lost in the knockouts.
According to Parthiv Patel, the decision to win the toss and bowl first in the final of the Champions Trophy against Pakistan was a strange one, because it was a very good surface to bat on and in big games against arch-rivals, you want to bat first as a team and put some runs on the board, so that you can use the scoreboard pressure to your advantage later, but India did the exact opposite.
MS Dhoni should have batted up the order in the 2019 World Cup semi-final: Parthiv Patel
Then in the semifinal of the ODI World Cup 2019 against New Zealand when they lost a few early wickets, they decided to hold back their most experienced batsman MS Dhoni and sent Dinesh Karthik up the order, when it should have been the other way around. Dhoni should have batted up the order to steady the innings and Karthik should have been held back to bat down the order.
Dhoni in 2019 world cup semifinal after loss of 5 wicket :- pic.twitter.com/7qWaMUCbNX
— 💲🅰〽️ (@Samcasm7) July 9, 2020
Parthiv Patel said that MS Dhoni couldn’t have done anything about the collapse and couldn’t have laid a match-winning platform for India when he was sitting in the dressing room. He should have been out there after India lost a couple of early wickets.
MS Dhoni batted at no. 7 for India in the semi-final of ODI World Cup 2019 and although he scored a half-century and stitched a substantial partnership with another half-centurion Ravindra Jadeja, it was not enough to take India to victory. It also turned out to be the last international game that Dhoni played for India.
Last day of Mahendra Singh Dhoni on the cricket field and probably the saddest day for us. World Cup Semifinal run out.
We want to see more of Dhoni. Come back MSD !#DhoniBirthdayIn77Days pic.twitter.com/pUeUDKiPyd— Shubham Bhatt (@Shubharcasm) April 21, 2020
