The T20 World Cup 2021 will be India bowling coach Bharat Arun's last assignment for India along with Ravi Shastri and other support staff. India's semifinal fate hangs on the outcome of New Zealand vs Afghanistan match.
A day before his last match as India's bowling coach, Bharat Arun did admit that both toss and bubble fatigue contributed to India’s indifferent performance in the T20 World Cup 2021, where they lost to Pakistan and New Zealand in the Super 12 stage. (More Cricket News)
Asked if the absence of a gap between IPL and T20 World Cup became a factor, Arun responded in the positive. “Being on the road for six months is huge ask. Players haven’t gone home and I think they had a short break after the last IPL got suspended.
“They have been in a bubble for six months and that takes a huge toll, so specific to your question, may be a short break between IPL and World Cup could have done a lot of good for these boys,” Arun said on the eve of India’s final group league game against Namibia.
However, he was pretty annoyed that in a tournament of this stature, toss played such a crucial role, as India, while batting first, looked a different outfit compared to the opposition who were helped in shot-making because of the dew-laden surface.
“Toss played a very, very vital role and I believe in these kind of matches, toss shouldn’t be of any consequence,” he said. “Here toss gives unfair advantage and there is a huge change in batting in the first innings and batting in the second innings. That shouldn’t be the case in a short format like this,” he said.
When asked whether leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s absence hurt the team, Arun was not forthcoming. “I wouldn’t like to dwell too much on that and that is for the selectors to decide. We can only play with the team given,” he replied.