India failed to qualify for the semi-final during the recently held T20 World Cup.
Notably, the Men in Blue were outclassed by Pakistan and New Zealand in their first two games of the Super 12 round. Virat Kohli and company may have bounced back in the tournament by thrashing Afghanistan, Scotland, and Namibia but it wasn’t enough for them to earn a place in the semi-final.
Reflecting on India’s campaign, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly recently called it the 'poorest' performance in the last four-five years.
According to Ganguly, the Indian team didn't play fearless cricket and it felt like they were playing only to 15% of their ability.
"To be honest, 2017 [and] 2019, I think India was good. 2017 Champions Trophy we lost the final to Pakistan at the Oval, I was a commentator then. Then the 2019 World Cup in England, we were exceptional right throughout, beat everyone and lost to New Zealand in the semi-final - one bad day and the entire good work for two months was just wiped away. [I am] a little disappointed with the way we played this World Cup. I think this has been the poorest of all what I have seen in the last four-five years," Ganguly said on the show Backstage with Boria.
While India lost the opening game to arch-rivals Pakistan by 10 wickets, they suffered an eight-wicket thrashing at the hands of Kiwis in the second match.
"I don't know what's the reason but I just felt they did not play with enough freedom this World Cup. Sometimes it happens in big tournaments, you just get stuck and when I saw them playing against Pakistan and New Zealand - I just felt this was the team which was playing to 15% of its ability. And sometimes you can't just a finger on it that this is the reason why it happened," Ganguly added.