T20 World Cup 2021: Not Having A Plan B Is Going To Be An Issue For India, Says Nasser Hussain

Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes that India not having a “Plan B” is going to be an issue for the team in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.

India National Cricket Team is placed in the Group 2 of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 along with Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia. The Men In Blue will commence their Super12s journey with a battle against arch-rivals Pakistan on 24 October in Dubai. Heading into the Super12s, India have a lot of momentum on their side, having defeated Australia and England in the warm-up games.

Talking about India, Nasser Hussain said that they are not “clear favourites” considering the game changes pretty quickly in the T20 cricket. Nasser Hussain on Sky Cricket said:

“They are favourites. I wouldn’t say clear favourites simply because of the format. The shorter the game, things can happen,”

“… an individual brilliance of 70 or 80 or three deliveries suddenly changes the other away around. So anyone could upset India in any knockout game,”

India’s Record Of Late In The ICC Tournaments Is Not Good – Nasser Hussain

The 53-year-old highlighted that India has a poor track record in the knockout stages of recent ICC events. Notably, India won their last ICC Trophy under the leadership of MS Dhoni in 2013 when India defeated England to win the Champions Trophy.

Since then, India has been struggling to bag another ICC trophy. Virat Kohli and co. came very close to winning the title in the 2017 Champions Trophy and 2021 World Test Championship (WTC) as they were the runner-up. Also, India was knocked out of the semifinals in the 2015 World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2019 World Cup.

“Their record of late in the ICC tournaments is not good and that’s something they are going to have to deal with — with the weight of expectations of the Indian audience and fans heavy on their shoulders — when they get to a knockout game, all of a sudden you cannot afford a mistake and that’s going to be a thing for them,” Hussain said.

Nasser Hussain feels that India has got a very good top-order batting unit, but when they fail, the middle order fails to score good runs. He stated:

“When they get to a stage — you look at the last World Cup against New Zealand — and suddenly it’s a low-scoring game and they don’t have a Plan B. They got rolled over a very good New Zealand side. So that’s going to be an issue for them,”

“The other problem with India is that they are so good at the top with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and K.L. Rahul boss games and the middle order hasn’t had much of a hit.

“You get to a knockout or final and suddenly they are at 30 for 3 because the standard has gone up and the middle order hasn’t had a hit and you go now you need to do it,” he added.

Nasser Hussain believes that India can’t afford to do a mistake in the knockout stage because they have got pretty much everything they need to have to win the ICC trophy. He said:

“When they get into a knockout game all of a sudden they can’t afford any mistake and that’s because on paper they have everything.

“They have some of the greatest white-ball batters. Depth in the batting got the fast bowlers and the mystery spin and a mentor on the sidelines in M.S. Dhoni.” “These are the areas India have to focus on. On paper, they have pretty much every base covered,” he added.

Also Read: T20 World Cup 2021: Sunil Narine Is A Big Miss For Us – West Indies Captain Kieron Pollard