Their hope was a straightforward one — an Afghanistan win over New Zealand, a result that would have kept India in the race for the semis. No! It would have almost ensured Virat Kohli and boys a berth in the last four.

It was asking for an early Christmas miracle. But there was none. A clinical Kiwis under Kane Williamson mounted a cool chase to emerge an 8-wicket winner, earning themselves a semifinal berth.

So what went wrong with India, who entered the tournament as one among the favourites.

1 Succumbing to Pakistan

India might have entered their opening match of the mega event with a lot of confidence. After all, they have never lost to Pakistan in a World Cup match across T20 and 50-over versions. A 12-0 record since the 80s is a formidable record.

But Shaheen Shah Afridi, an incredibly talented left-arm fast bowler, dismissed KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma in the first over itself. In one way, Shaheen maintained his tradition of picking up a wicket in the first over of a match.

In another way, he sowed the seeds of overturning a tradition too. India never really recovered from those twin blows despite skipper Virat Kohli making a resolute fifty. India barely managed to go past 150.

But once Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan produced stunning innings, the Indian bowlers looked clueless. Their length — short — too made the matters worse as Azam and Rizwan freely scored through the leg-side. In fact a good 75% of runs scored by them on that night came through the on-side.

2 Cagey against NZ

Now, this was a must-win match for India to avoid the mathematical tangles. Everyone expected India to fire from all cylinders. But forget all cylinders, they even did not fire from a pop gun. A total of 110 was so anaemic to defend against any opposition, let alone against a professional unit like New Zealand.

None of the Indian batsman looked at home against the Black Caps bowlers, especially Trent Boult, another left-arm pacer, and leg-spinner Ish Sodhi.

3 Selections that faltered

Yes, cricket is a team game and at times it is faulty to pick individuals for team’s failure. We have been told that several times. But on somedays, the individual failure is so glaring that we need to harp on it.

Hardik Pandya: It was clear that Hardik is nowhere near his best but there was no cover for him. The team believed in Hardik’s destructive abilities with the bat but he could not deliver against the likes of Shaheen, Harris Rauf, Boult , Sodhi etc. There was a cameo against Afghanistan and he bowled a couple of overs too in the latter matches. But it was a case of too little, too late.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: With reduced pace and an iffy fitness, Bhuvneshwar looked half the bowler he is actually. The signs were so visible in the IPL 2021 when he huffed and puffed through the second leg for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He leaked runs and never really looked like taking a wicket. Bhuvi played just one match in the tournament. India, perhaps, could have added someone like Harshal Patel who has had a brilliant IPL 2021 for Royal Challengers Bangalore when the ICC window was open for replacements or reinforcements.

Rahul Chahar: The young leg-spinner was preferred over Yuzvendra Chahal for the mega event. But all he played was two warm-up matches as India preferred Varun Chakravarthy who returned with no wickets from three matches. Chahar may still get a chance against Namibia on Monday (November 9) but the question will resonate: why was he preferred over Chahal?

R Ashwin: Ashwin is one the finest spinners ever to have played. His records across the formats will vouch for that. But he never got a chance against Pakistan and New Zealand, the matches that actually mattered.

India preferred two spinners in Varun and Ravindra Jadeja. Varun started well against Babar and Rizwan but soon his inexperience caught up with him as the Pakistani batsmen hammered his short of the length deliveries mercilessly to the fence.

There is no gainsaying that Ashwin could have made a difference to the match situation. But there was that possibility and the India management did not explore it. After all, Ashwin is a player with big match experience.

4 Changing batting order

Post the match against Pakistan, Kohli dismissed the question with disdain when he was asked whether India would consider replacing Rohit with in-form Ishan Kishan. But that was what exactly happened against New Zealand.

Ishan came in for Suryakumar Yadav, who had a back spasm, and replaced Rohit at the totem pole position as the Mumbaikar batted at No 3. The move failed to fire agains Kiwis.