Team India have now lost back to back games in the T20 World Cup after going down to New Zealand in Dubai comprehensively. The Kiwis kept their record intact of beating India in ICC tournaments beating them by 8 wickets in this game. The last three games now becomes a must-win for India and they need to also keep an eye on improving their net run-rate as well. They also will need some help from other teams in the process.

New Zealand chased down 111 needed for victory inside 15 overs with Daryl Mitchell scoring a quickfire 49. 20 from Martin Guptill at the top and an unbeaten 33 from skipper Kane Williamson meant that the Black Caps cantered their way through to the target.

This happened after New Zealand restricted India to 110/7 after winning the toss and opting to bat first. It was a shambolic performance from the Indian batsmen who literally played with a sense of fear against the Kiwi bowlers.

Trent Boult did the early damage and finished with figures of three for 20. Tim Southee picked one wickets as the Kiwi spinners Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner took three wickets together to dismantle India’s batting line-up.

Twitter Reacts To India’s Loss Against NZ

India, unfortunately, always were chasing the wrong template in T20s, treating the format merely an extension of ODIs. Winning bilateral series held for nothing but personal milestones. Ind would need to rebuild; and rebuild thinking about the format and not go by names #IndvsNZ

— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) October 31, 2021

💔

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) October 31, 2021

India should take a leaf out of all other countries … Allow their players to play in other leagues around the World to gain experience … #India #T20WorldCup

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) October 31, 2021

Only @Jaspritbumrah93 looked the part in today’s match for India. Not one other player made significant impact. Thoroughly outplayed by the Kiwis

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 31, 2021

What to say? Nothing really. #T20WorldCup21 #t20worldcup2021 #NZvIND

— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) October 31, 2021

This defeat should hurt Team India. Tentative with the bat, their shot selection was questionable. New Zealand bowled superbly, but India made their task easier. With their net run rate also taking a beating, a semifinal spot looks a distant dream #INDvNZ #T20WorldCup

— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) October 31, 2021

This is poor. Very very poor. Another World Cup campaign will end in misery. And how bad is this!

— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) October 31, 2021

https://twitter.com/FarziCricketer/status/1454852299411492867?s=20

Chances of Indian team:

Need AFG to beat NZ and then IND needs to win with a high NRR vs other teams to overcome both New Zealand and Afghanistan.

Tough times in T20 WC 2021.

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 31, 2021

What a win @BLACKCAPS ! #nzvsa pic.twitter.com/0POekeDxf8

— Grant Elliott (@grantelliottnz) October 31, 2021

Very disappointing from India. NZ were amazing. India’s body language wasn’t great, poor shot selection & like few times in the past, New Zealand have virtually ensured we won’t make it to the next stage. This one will hurt India & time for some serious introspection #IndvsNZ

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 31, 2021

This hasn’t been expected from team India @BCCI Team India has always been amongst one of the favourites..sad & disappointed…well played @BLACKCAPS you guys played better cricket #IndiaVsNewZealand #ICCT20WorldCup2021

— Kamran Akmal (@KamiAkmal23) October 31, 2021

They did not allow the Indian batters to settle in at the wicket and kept chipping away with the wickets at regular intervals. It was a struggle with the bat for India as none of the top-order batters could really get ahead with scoring shots. Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul started brilliantly but failed to keep going.

Rohit Sharma demoted down the batting order came as a surprise to many as he could not bat to his best at number four. Short making became difficult as the spinners came into bowl. That is when India lost the wickets of Rohit and Kohli and since then the side played catch-up cricket.

The lower-order did not rise up to the occasion either. The strategy to get in Shardul Thakur did not work out as he was out for a duck. With the ball, he gave 17 in just nine balls with Mitchell taking a liking to him.

All in all it was another disappointing performance from India. The side might not be able to recover from this loss with not enough time for them to bounce back.

They next face Afghanistan who are able them on the points table on November 3. Scotland and Namibia are the two teams they face last but by then they may be well out of the race for the semi-final spot.

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