We are NOT proud

We are not proud of our team. Trophy matters, nothing else. India is not emerging team like afganistan which should be happy by reaching finals or semifinals. Nobody remember runner ups, only champions are remembered in history. If I ask you who was runner up in WC 1999 or even in 2015, hardly people remember even those who follow cricket. India has lost only 4 matches out of their last 28 matches in World Cup but out of these 4 matches they lost 3 matches in knockouts, telling us some story. We can console ourselves by saying that it was just a bad day at office but if you go deeper, it tells something else. Scoring 4 boundaries in last 40 overs (out of which 2 was hit by tailenders) can never be a champion mindset. Had India played 10 percent of what they play in there league match, it would have been cake walk. They were under pressure hugely. In the era of T20s, scoring run a ball never a problem however slow the pitch is. KL Rahul has been biggest disappointment in big matches be it his batting or wicketkeeping. He was doing great with the gloves and in the crunch match he was fumbling like anything. Suryakumar Yadav was riding on his luck that his performance was unnoticed under top order were performing well and India was winning but once India needed him the most, he got exposed. Top order surely has very less faith on him which could be the reason KL Rahul were playing so timidly. Dravid also has blood in his hand. He was doing experiments till the last moment before wc but couldn't get a better number 6 who can ball a bit. I believe you cannot win a tournament if you only win matches with total dominance throughout ( only exception Australia of 2007) as you will face a situation where you are under pressure ( law of averages), and then your player underperforming will get exposed which exactly what happened with India. On the other hand, Australia won their matches almost from the jaw of opponents which gave them confidence to perform under pressure. South Africa was as devastating as India in league matches but chocked under pressure and met same fate as India. The champion is the one who performs under pressure not when you are relaxed and the conditions are favourable and Australia did the same and hence the winner. One more factor that might have played the role in India's loss is hype by Indian fans. There is huge hype on social media and otherwise which definitely plays part in players mind. Looks like they are very eager to put their performance on social media and hence plays for footage. Whereas in Australia I don't think half of their population knows there is WC going on, till they win one. Whatever be the reason, we cannot deny that India didn't play like champions. We carry all the personal records in this tournament and still here we are. Unfortunately and harshly, we are NOT proud of our team. 

-Hitesh