The Indian team’s hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE came to an end after Afghanistan was defeated in their last Super 12s league match of group 2 by New Zealand in Abu Dhabi on November 7, 2021.
India, which had lost its first two matches to Pakistan and New Zealand in the Super 12s stage, had roared back against Afghanistan and Scotland and had the best NRR as well. However, they needed New Zealand to lose to either Namibia or Afghanistan, for the Men in Blue to make it into the semis.
Unfortunately for India, New Zealand beat Namibia by 52 runs and despite a good effort from Afghanistan, the BlackCaps thanks to an all-around effort from both the bowlers and the batters, defeated Mohammad Nabi and co by 8 wickets, chasing down the 125-run target in 18.1 overs.
This meant that New Zealand with four wins in 5 matches, joined Pakistan, who had already qualified, in the semi-finals and will probably face off against England.
This win also meant that Virat Kohli will end his Indian T20I captaincy failing to reach the semis in his first T20 World Cup as the leader of the team. India still have one more match to go, where they will face Namibia on November 8 in Dubai, in the last league match of the tournament.
Also with India out of the race of these semifinals, the tenures of the head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach B Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar, and batting coach Vikram Rathour will also come to an end after the Namibia encounter.
This was the first time since the T20 World Cup 2012 that India had failed to reach the knockout stages of any ICC tournament and the Indian cricket fraternity reacted about the missed chances and what could have been on Twitter.
Here are the tweets:
