Team India was on a roll in the 2019 cricket world cup during the league stages. Kohli’s side only lost one match before the semis and it was against hosts England. Many ex-cricketers including Kevin Pietersen and Micheal Vaughan believed that India was the team to beat. The world cup final was all set to be India vs England at Lord’s before New Zealand stunned them.
The men in blue once again lost a knockout match and crashed out in the semi-finals. India last won a major ICC trophy in 2013 when they won the Champions Trophy in England. Since then they have come close several times but were unable to cross the finishing line during high-pressure games.
Many have commented on the poor form that India has shown in the Semis and finals of the ICC events. Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody also opened up on why India wasn’t able to win the 2019 cricket World Cup.
Abundance of talent has hurt India – Tom Moody
Moody said that India is spoiled for choices from the extremely large pool of talented players. The abundance of talent has time and again had the Men in Blues on the wrong foot.
“One of the huge challenges India has to face, whether they like it or not, is the expectation on their talent. There is no question that India has got more talent by a long stretch than any country. But sometimes that can be a burden.”
“Not just the expectation but when you have got too many players to choose from, it can cloud your thinking and your philosophy on how you feel you need to play to win a particular tournament”, Moody told Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz.
Tom Moody also pointed out that India wasn’t consistent with the choices of the players in the world cup. Too many changes in the batting order created uncertainty that led their semi-final to exist.
“The best example was the campaign in World Cup 2019. When it seemed that India, twelve months out, were ready to play that tournament. But in the next twelve months in the actual lead up to the tournament, did their very best to sabotage their hopes of winning the tournament”.
He further explained, “By changing batting orders, by changing personnel within the batting order, creating uncertainty among the whole playing group. When you come into major tournaments that’s when you crystalise people’s thinking and thoughts and not be influenced by the white noise.”
“What the media might be talking about because you know exactly what path you are on. What exactly you need to be doing. You just need to remain consistent with that because players also sense the uncertainty when those things are happening,” Moody concluded.
