India's Virat Kohli shakes hands with Suryakumar Yadav after the match (Source: Reuters) The Indian men’s cricket team’s run in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021 was put to an end when New Zealand outplayed Afghanistan in Sunday’s encounter.
The men in blue were dependent on Afghanistan disappointing Kane Williamson’s team but it was not to be. This is the first time that India have not qualified for the semifinals of an ICC event in the last nine years.
India make short work of Namibia to pull curtain down on Kohli-Shastri era in T20s. From the stadium atmosphere to the players’ body language, it was a fare-thee-well fixture for India. The game started in front of virtually empty stands and ended amid a turnout of about 5,000. For India, it was about going through the motions. After restricting Namibia to 132/8, a facile nine-wicket victory was achieved with 28 balls to spare.
The Indian cricketers took to Twitter to express their disappointments.
Not the ideal World Cup for us, but we learn and grow.
Grateful to all our fans for the love and support.
Thank you to our coaches for helping us grow as cricketers. A big shout-out to @imVkohli for being a leader who led by example and for everything you have done for us. 🇮🇳🙏 pic.twitter.com/oejHdUvCZ8— K L Rahul (@klrahul11) November 9, 2021
Together as one we set out to achieve our goal.Unfortunately we fell short and no one is more disappointed than us as a side.The support from all of you has been fantastic and we are grateful for it all.We will aim to come back stronger and put our best foot forward. Jai Hind🇮🇳🙏 pic.twitter.com/UMUQgInHrV
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) November 8, 2021
This wasn’t how we wanted our World Cup campaign to go. We fell short but we will work twice as hard to repay the faith and support shown to us by our fans. Thank you to everyone who cheered us on at the stadiums and everyone back home 🙏 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/n8ZnHhEm6H
— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) November 9, 2021
Former International cricketers were also disheartened by India’s early exit from the World Cup.
After a decade India failed to make it to semis in an ICC tournament. But, what hurts more is another great opportunity lost. #AfgvsNZ #AFGvNZ
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) November 7, 2021
💔💔
— parthiv patel (@parthiv9) November 7, 2021
Not the way Indian fans wanted the #t20worldcup to end but “sun will rise again tomorrow” #TeamIndia 😇❤️
— Pragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha) November 7, 2021
In the process, Rohit Sharma scored his second half-century of the tournament and became the second Indian to go past 3,000 T20I runs after Virat Kohli. The outgoing captain and the captain-designate are India’s batting royalty. But both would like to forget this T20 World Cup.
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