New Delhi: It was a tournament to remember for Indian Cricket Team, as the Men in Blue’s  semi-final hopes of the T20 World Cup came to a daunting end yesterday, as Afghanistan lost to New Zealand by 8 wickets at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi as the Kiwis and arch-rivals Pakistan qualified for the business round of the tournament.

India started their campaign with back to back losses against Pakistan and New Zealand which pretty much decided the fate of the group. Virat Kohli and Co. bounced back with consecutive wins against minnows Afghanistan and Scotland and needed Rashid Khan and Co. to beat the current World Test Champions to give India the upper hand going into their last match against Namibia.

Sunil Gavaskar believes that the opposition bowlers restricted the Indian batters quite expertly and didn’t let them score free runs, which pretty much sums up India’s dismal performance in the tournament.

“The way Pakistan and New Zealand bowlers restricted our batters, didn’t let them score freely was the main reason why India didn’t progress. Dew was making batting easy (in second innings) because the ball wasn’t turning, spinners’ balls were going straight,” he told Sports Tak.

“Batting second was an advantage but if you had 180 odd runs then your bowlers would have got those 20-30 runs cushion.

When you are making 111 (against New Zealand) then dew doesn’t come into the picture. We didn’t make runs and that is the main reason, nothing else.”

Gavaskar is not in favour of wholesale changes in the team and urged the side to revisit its approach to power-play over. The iconic former batter said the team hasn’t been scoring enough in that phase against stronger oppositions.

“I don’t think wholesale changes will make any difference. You need to change your approach, like take advantage of the power-play overs which India didn’t do in the last few world tournaments.”

“The fact that in the first 6 overs, there are only 2 fielders outside the 30-yard-circle, India haven’t taken advantage of it for the last few ICC tournaments.

“…whenever India are up against a strong team, one that has good bowlers…India cannot score. So that needs to change,” he said.

Gavaskar also cited fielding as one the reason for India’s below-par performance.

“The second and the most importantly, they should have players who are phenomenal in fielding. The way New Zealand fielded, saved runs, took catches…it stood out.

“Even if the attack is ordinary, the pitch is placid, good fielding can make a lot of difference. If you look at Indian team, except 3-4 outstanding fielders, you can’t depend on the rest to save runs or dive at the boundary,” he said.

(With Inputs From PTI)