T20 WC 2016 vs Expectations in T20 WC 2020 : "INDIA"

Whenever we talked about T20 World Cup, memories of inaugural World Cup gets some fresh air. It was in 2007 where a young fresh Indian Team lifted the trophy under their new captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But still wonder why Indian Team didn't add another World T20 title under their name. Despite some good performances in ODI's and Tests, India didn't won another T20 World Cup. 

Journey of T20 World Cup 2016

Another T20 World Cup came in 2016, another chance for Indian Team and their fans to have some glory of T20 World Cup and moreover this time Indian Team entered in the tournament as Hot-Favorites as they have beaten Australia in T20 series in their own den, following victory vs SL in home series. Asia Cup 2016 played in 20-over format just to have some preparation for the T20 World Cup. Indian goes onto win all matches and lifted the Asia Cup. What's next...??? It’s another hope to lift T20 World Cup. Also, 2016 T20 World Cup played in India and there was no reason why India not lift the trophy? 

1st match vs New Zealand at Nagpur

M Santner masterclass spin bowling was too hard to handle for Indian batsman.
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New Zealand won all important toss and elected to bat first in the slow pitch. Martin Guptill welcomed Ashwin with a six on the very first ball of the match. But Ashwin had the last laugh. He trapped Guptill in front of wicket on the very next ball. Veteran Ashish Nehra strikes in his first over to send Munro back in the hunt. India had the perfect start. Spinners, pacers and good fielding didn't allowed New Zealand to score freely. As a result, New Zealand scored just 126 runs in their quota of 20-overs. It looked dead and in favor of Indian Team. But New Zealand spinner's had different ideas. They made the most out of the slow pitch. Shikhar Dhawan(1) trapped LBW in the first over off Nathan McCullum. Santner dounle strike in the 3rd over to send back Rohit Sharma(5) and Suresh Raina(1). Yuvraj(4) followed them and was caught and bowled by McCullum. Indian got off the poor start trailing 26/4 inside 5 overs. Ish Sodhi got the better of star batsman Virat Kohli(23) to left the lower order a mountain to climb. No Indian batsman had the answer of New Zealand’s spinners. Mitchell Santner, the Man of the Match (4-0-11-4) , Nathan McCullum and Ish Sodhi shared as many as 9 wickets among them resulting India all out on 79. It was a below par performance by Indian Team and probably the much required early wake up call which was very important in such a big tournaments.

2nd match vs Pakistan in Kolkata

Virat Kohli bowed to the great Sachin Tendulkar after reaching his half century.
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Its much awaited INDIA vs PAKISTAN contest. Indian Team came in the match with the embarrassing defeat to New Zealand and Pakistan won his first match vs Bangladesh. Is previous results really matter in this contest? Answer is a big NO. Their rivalry is one of the best in the world and since its a World Cup match, every member of each team want to contribute to their team. Also, Pakistan record vs India in World Cup's is still daunting them as Indian Team blanked them every time and then. 

Match was delayed due to wet outfield to make the contest 18 overs. India won the toss and elected to bowl. Pakistan looked on the back foot from ball one. The strategy to save wickets for the last didn't proved right and current rate was never in their control. After 12 overs, Pakistan was trailing 60/3 and that's never gonna help them against the strong Indian batting line-up. Indian bowlers kept the tight line throughout 18 overs. As a result, Pakistan made just 118/5 in their 18 overs. They knew its a below par score against this Indian Team. But since its a India-Pakistan game, no team would give up easily. Once again Indian operners failed to give a good start to the team and both Rohit Sharma(10) and Sikhar Dhawan(6) fell cheaply. Suresh Raina followed Dhawan and out for a golden duck leaving India 23/3 inside 5 overs. There was glimpse of  victory in the Pakistan camp but savior Virat Kolhi stood up to the occasion. He is vey well supported by Yuvraj Singh24(23) that proved vital as Pakistan bowlers attacking Indian batsman quike comfortably. Virat Kohli scored unbeaten 55* and won the match for Indian and was adjusted Man of the Match.

3rd match vs Bangladesh in Bangalore

Indian skipper MS Dhoni ran out the Bangladeshi's batsman in the last ball to hand India an unlikely victory.
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Its another Asian team contest. One can never take Bangladesh Team lightly as we all know, on their day they can upset any team. And they proved the Indian Team in this match. 

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl. Both Indian openers was under pressure because of their two successive failures. They played sensibly in powerplay but Rohit Sharma(18) ended up losing his wicket on the last ball of powerplay. India were 42/1 in 6 overs. Shikhar Dhawan(23) followed him in the next over. Virat Kohli(24) and Suresh Raina(30) kept the scoreboard ticking and didn't took any risk and made sure India not loose any wicket in the next 6 overs. This strategy backfired them. In the process, Kohli went first, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya(15) and Yuvraj Singh(3) fell in quick succession and India had a mini collapse from 95/2 to 117/6. India scored all important runs in the last 3 overs and finished to 146/7 in 20 overs. Bangladesh maintained the required rate and scored 45 runs in first 6 overs for the loss of 1 wicket. This match was equally balanced till that point. Tamim Iqbal(35) fell and Shakib Al Hasan joined Sabbir and scored some quick runs. Its going Bangladeshi's way. Indian bowlers strike back and got rid of Sabbir Rehman, Mortaza and Shakib Al Hasan. Its down to 17 runs of 12 balls. But Jasprit Bumrah gave just 6 runs to gave Hardik Pandya 11 runs to defend in the last over. Fist ball : single. Mushfiqur Rahim then scored back to back boundaries to give some panic in Indian camp. Its down to 2 runs from 3 balls. Its Bangladesh game to loose now. Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah fell on successive deliveries in order to hit the ball out of the park and caught at deep mid wicket. Its 1 run required off 1 ball. Lots of discussion among Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra, Virat Kohli and Captain Dhoni. Here goes Pandya and bowls a wide slower bouncer, the bastman misses and run blindly. Dhoni ran fast and wipped off the bail in time to give India one of the narrowest win and that by just 1 run. Disappointed faces in Bangladesh camp as they once again gave away match to India. This match will be remembered by each and every cricket fan. 

4th match vs Australia at Mohali

Virat Kohli again showed why he is called as the "Best Chaser" of current era.
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It's a high voltage encounter, a virtual quater final and two big teams was against each other. Australia won the toss and in view of trying putting pressure on Indian Team, elected to bat. Usman Khawaja and Aaron Finch gave Australia a flying start and scored 54 runs in 4.2 overs before Khawaja was undone by Veteran Ashish Nehra. Australia got the momentum to set a big target. But Indian Team came back into the match by taking wickets at regular interval. As a result, Australia didn't capitalize on their good start and ended up posting average total 160/6 in their 20 overs. In reply, India again got a poor start as both Rohit Sharma(12) and Shikhar Dhawan(13) got out cheaply and India scored just 37 runs in 6 overs. Raina(10) and Yuvraj(21) followed them leaving pressure on Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. India required 39 runs off 18 balls. Something special from Virat Kohli required and he didn't disappoint. He welcomed Faulkner by 4,4,6 and goes onto score 20 runs in that over. He also scored 4 boundaries off Coulter-Nile in the next over to brought down equation to 4 runs off 6 balls. MS Dhoni finishes the game with the boundaries of the first ball and match was over. Its King Kohli,the Man of the Match, scored 82* off just 51 balls to handed India a semi-final seat. 

Semi-Final vs West Indies at Wankhede

Skipper MS Dhoni(left) and batsman Virat Kohli after the loss against Champion West Indies in the Semi Final at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
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Its India vs WI semi-final. On the paper, West Indies never disappoints their fans with some big power hitters in their rank. But host India was not far behind and with form Virat Kohli was there, no one could stop India to reach final.West Indies won the toss in the pressure game and send India to bat. India,unlike other games, got off to a good start. Rohit Sharma(43) and A Rahane(40) gave India the perfect platform to explore in the final overs. India reached 100 in 12.2 overs. Again its one man for India, Virat Kohli took charge and smashed West Indies bowler on the batting pitch of Wankhede. Kohli goes onto scored 89* off 47 balls to get India to a big total 192. But is there is any total called as "Big" against the likes of Gayle, Russell, Bravo and other hitters.Jasprit Bumrah knocked dangerous Chris Gayle(5) in his very first deliveries and Ashish Nehra removed big-match player Marlon Samuels(8) in the next over to leave West Indies struggling at 19/2 in 3 overs. Then the moment arrived. Both Charles 52(36) and Simmons 82*(51) got West Indies steady and not only kept wickets but also hammered Indian bowlers all around in Wankhede. Virat Kohli came to bowl and removed Charles straightaway. But Mr. Russell, the deadly hitters arrived. He was ruthless and scored 43*(20) including 4 towering 6's and won the match for West Indies by hitting a high 6 off Virat Kohli. The story would be different if Ashwin and Pandya didn't oversteps. Their no-balls gave two life line to Simmons. The lucky Simmons was adjusted Man of the Match. Over dependence on Virat Kohli, poor bowling and fielding sums up India's journey in 2016 WC T20. 

Expectations in T20 World Cup 2020

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Indian team will go to Australia for the 7th edition of T20 World Cup with the dream to end up their ICC trophy drought. India just blanked New Zealand 5-0 in their own backyard and the bunch of players India have, no team will do mistake to take this Indian Team lightly. They have a new Captain and the best batsman, Virat Kohli. Rohit Sharma proved his importance in the team. They both are the backbone of their batting line-ups. Who else are there? KL Rahul was in tremendous form following a superb series vs New Zealand. Shreyas Iyer answered the much debatable question of no 4 position. There will be big hitters with likes of MS Dhoni, Rishab Pant and Hardik Pandya in the line-ups. R Jadeja was a different Jadeja after his innings in Semi-Final vs NZ in the CWC 2019. The bowling department will be headed by Jasprit Bumrah, who will be supported by the likes of Md. Shami and B. Kumar. Y Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav will be the spinners. T20 World Cup was not far behind. So would you rate India as the hot-favorites to life the cup this time? I think its too early to rank them hot-favorites as host Australia and fearless England are also the strong contender for this year World T20. Over dependance on Rohit, Virat and Bumrah is still the question to get some answers. So, by today, its fair to say that host Australia, fearless England and classy India are the 3 contenders for the T20 World Cup. Lets give your suggestions and view regarding the favorites to lift the T20 World Cup 2020.

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