‘Virat, Shastri, Dhoni not on the same page; ‘khichdi’ in the dressing room’ – former cricketers hit out at Team India’s performances | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: India are virtually out of the ICC T20 World Cup after two big losses. They are managing to stay alive only mathematically.
The team takes on Afghanistan today in what is being called a potential banana skin encounter, considering the Afghans can be a tricky opposition. Add to that the fact that they really pushed Pakistan hard and almost pulled off a win against a team which thrashed India by 10 wickets and you know that tonight’s match is not going to be a walk in the park for Virat Kohli and his men.

Former England spinner Monty Panesar believes that captain Virat Kohli needs to sit down with coach Ravi Shastri and mentor Mahendra Singh Dhoni and sort things out quickly. India had kicked off their T20 World Cup campaign on an embarrassing note, losing to arch-rivals Pakistan by 10 wickets. Team India got another jolt when they suffered an eight-wicket defeat against New Zealand in their second match in the tournament. With this India lost their encounters against the other two top ranked teams in their group.
“Toss played a crucial role in the tournament. In UAE, the team who wins the toss first, they have an upper hand. If India had won the toss, things would have been different. Virat doesn’t have the best XI at the moment. He is low on confidence. Virat, Ravi and Dhoni need to sit down and sort this out quickly as some easy games are coming up. They need to work out things in terms of approach, play and strategy,” Panesar told TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview.

India will now face Afghanistan, Scotland and then Namibia in their remaining Group matches. They need to win their remaining three matches by big margins and expect other results to go their way to stay alive in the tournament.
Panesar feels captain Kohli, who will be hanging up his T20I captaincy boots after the mega event, can still turn things around.

“India can still qualify. They can still turn it around. But it needs a lot of things and all will depend on Virat, Ravi and Dhoni. Virat, Ravi and Dhoni need to be on the same page. I believe they are not. People will remember Virat as a great batsman and massive chaser but will always criticise him as a leader because he couldn’t do anything when the team was under crisis and he failed to turn it around. India need to win all the three games massively. They need to win their remaining games by a huge margin so that their run rate goes up. Let’s not think what math says, they need to perform (at) 200 percent and need to pray the other team’s results go as per their wish. They are still not out of the tournament,” Panesar further told TimesofIndia.com.

“Cricket is a funny game. India need to win the three games for Virat Kohli. It will be a nice send off to the departing captain. You want to see Virat end on a high. He is such a great player. This shouldn’t happen with him,” Panesar added.
‘TEAM INDIA PANICKED’
Put into bat, India posted a challenging 151 for 7 in 20 overs in their opening match against Pakistan. In reply, the Indian bowlers looked jaded and failed to take a single wicket against the 2009 champions. Chasing India’s 151, Babar Azam (68 not out off 52 balls) and Mohammad Rizwan (79 not out off 55 balls) sent the Indian bowlers on a leather hunt to clinch Pakistan’s first-ever World Cup win (across T20 World Cups and 50 overs World Cups) against India.
The win was Pakistan’s first win in 13 World Cup matches (ODI and T20I combined) against India (7 in the 50 over World Cup and six in the Twenty20 World Cup). This was the first time that India lost a T20I by 10 wickets and also the first time that Pakistan won a T20I by the same margin.
Multiple questions began to be asked about what is going wrong with the Indian team and the voices only grew louder when India lost their second straight match – this time vs their perennial bogey team at ICC tournaments – New Zealand.
Former India cricketer Maninder Singh termed India’s planning ‘haywire’.
“Team India’s planning was haywire. It looked like they panicked. I was listening to Bumrah in a press conference, he said that he wanted an extra cushion for the bowlers because later on the dew came, the boys tried to play big shots and got out. It was a bit of a surprise to me,” Maninder told TimesofIndia.com.

Virat Kohli with Rohit Sharma, mentor MS Dhoni and coach Ravi Shastri in Dubai. (ANI Photo)
‘KHICHDI IN THE DRESSING ROOM’
“You plan things, you just don’t go and start hitting out. You don’t change the batting order. Rohit Sharma has got runs at number one, opening position, most of the time and he was sent at No. 3. It showed he was prevented from facing Trent Boult. This is not a very good sign. Kohli, who scored most runs at number 3, came to bat number 4. I just felt that there was a lot of confusion. With Dhoni the mentor and Shastri the coach, there was so much khichdi in the dressing room,” Maninder, who played 35 Tests and 59 ODIs for India, further said.
So did multiple voices in the dressing room only add to the confusion?
This in fact was one of the options in a poll that TimesofIndia.com ran in which readers and fans were asked to vote for the reason they think contributed the most to India badly losing their opening two matches at the World Cup.

“Having a coach and making a mentor sit on top of him is not a good sign. The coach’s job is to mentor the team. This created a lot of confusion and impacted India’s performance. I call it a khichdi in the dressing room,” Maninder signed off.