Batting great and former India captain Sachin Tendulkar on Monday said the national team's defeat to New Zealand in the T20 World Cup was one of those matches where "nothing works out even if you try".
India were pushed to the brink of elimination after Virat Kohli and his men suffered a seven-wicket loss to the Kiwis in Dubai on Sunday, their second successive defeat of the tournament.
Tendulkar said Indian batters were forced to play big shots as they were not given easy singles by New Zealand and the bowlers lacked penetration while defending a low total of 110.
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"It was a difficult day for our team but these kind of days come sometimes, when even if you try, nothing comes out. Nothing much to talk about honestly. I just hope in the coming days, our team will show something great in this tournament," Tendulkar said.
"I felt India was playing a catching-up game, the way New Zealand were dominating, it was difficult time for our batters because they could not get those easy singles which forced them to play big shots. I don't think there was that penetration in our bowling." He described New Zealand captain Kane Williamson's tactics as top-notch and said he must have come with a lot of planning.
"From ball one, his field settings and bowling changes were top-notch. I felt his planning must be very good. The first six overs, we were 35 for 2. In that, 20 runs came from five overs and one over from Adam Milne yielded 15 runs. For me, the crucial phase of the game was after six to 10th overs.
"There were 24 balls there, we scored 13 runs and lost one wicket. According to me that was a critical phase which we missed out on capitalising. Because I know if you lose wickets quickly, then batters think of making partnerships.
"But those easy singles were not available and that forced our batters to play big shots. Rohit was out while doing that, Virat was out like that," said the 48-year-old iconic cricketer who has several scoring records to his name.
Tendulkar also pointed out another successful tactic of the Kiwis while bowling to Pant, which he said was similar to the one employed during the 2019 (50-over) World Cup.
"Pant came and the fast bowlers came immediately and when spin attack came, immediately the end (of spin bowling) was changed. Again a smart move," he explained.
"I remembered the 2019 World Cup, when Mitchell Santner came to bowl to Pant, he was bowling from the longer end so that when Pant attacked towards mid-wicket, it would be towards the longest boundary of the ground. It happened the same way yesterday also." Tendulkar also said that leg-spinners who are mixing up deliveries -- googlies, top spin, flippers and normal leg spin -- have been successful in the recent past against India.
"If I have to speak about spinners, Ish Sodhi was very effective yesterday and along with him Mitchell Santner also did bowl well. Both combined gave just 32 runs in 8 overs, and that is very impactful performance.
"We have to do better in these areas. When India started bowling, with the kind of small total you need to take three wickets to remain in the game. We did not concede too many runs and took one wicket (in powerplay) but it was not impactful bowling.
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