Is the "favourite" tag in ICC events hurting India?

[TalhaSyed]

They were amongst the favourites in the 2011 WC. They stormed to the trophy in 2013 Champions Trophy. Since then India have been favourites for near enough every ICC event.

However, since 2013 they have stumbled in 2 T20 World Cups, the Champions Trophy in 2017 and now 2 50 Over World Cups.

Is the favourites tag hurting India? Are they struggling to deal with the pressure? Or are they getting complacent? Or is is simply a case of the favourite tag not being justified?

 

[KingKhanWC]

People are too obsessed with India and need to wake up to reality. They were never favourites in this World Cup, England were.

They are simply not good enough. Time to move on all.

 

[UP]

How can a team with two batsmen be ‘favourites’?

And one being the King of flat tracks.

 

[tyron_woodley]

lol poor selection is the reason why they lost.
not choosing Mayank.
not choosing rayudu.
losing dhawan.
had dhawan been there they would have won.

 

[JaDed]

We were favs in 2011 as well , 2013 we werent favs but had a new team with Dhawan in superb form,
Favs tag is good , it talks about the team as a whole and players need to perform under pressure.

 

[rhony]

A top 2 team like India is always favorites. You think a 0-13 record team can be favorites? They don't give away rankings and teams have to earn them. India and England were the two consistent teams coming into this world cup and India even topped the group. Anything can happen in one off games and India have been on the receiving end due to some poor decisions by their Batsmen. Neverthless a consistent SF team in every tournament this decade earns them the fav tag.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Not an excuse guys. India lost because NZ played a better cricket. End of story. We can slice and dice it anyway you want. it was a tournament anyone could lose to anyone under the right circumstances. India losing to NZ (which was carrying many liabilities in the batting department) was not a surprise simply because NZ outdid INdia in 2 other departments. Bowling and Fielding.

 

[frenchcut]

Came up against a very disciplined, lean NZ side that gave nothing away bowling and fielding wise (bar a few more than expected wides).

Fully expect to receive brickbats for this, but India lost because of the extra day’s/night’s break. On day 1, at no point were NZ on top, and the longer the Indian batsmen had to wait, the more time there was for mental focus and intensity to drop. It isn’t like each batsman went in with a total lack of concentration, but it felt like each top order bat thought someone or the other would knock off the 240 needed, or that even on the second day they wouldn’t be needed to bat a 50 over match.

Psychology is a funny thing in sport. In contrast, NZ had an extra evening to dwell on their modest 210 total, and once they pushed to 240 the next morning, they were in a different zone intensity wise with regards to their runs on the board and fought like tigers to defend it.

 

[mastermind_quad]

Indian batsman failed and NZ did very well in the second inning and that's it.

We were favorite as we were playing good cricket. Its a team game and our batcmand didn't played well in the semi final.

 

[Itachi]

If you will look at their interviews, you will see that, they try to take each match at a time. Hence going in as favorites is actually out of equation. That's why, winning doesn't change anything drastic nor does losing.

This "favorite" tag won't be a driving force for team india as per as those interviews, where they explain their approach towards the game dictates.

 

[jnaveen1980]

India was ONE of the favorites. Not the ONLY favorites

 

[Ahmed216]

India simple dont have the middle order right now. Even then India would have won the WC if it was played in India.
But in England the new ball does a bit sometimes and unfortunately for India both in CT final and WC semis their top order succumbed to some pace and swing

 

[Mr.Q]

No that’s no excuse. If you can’t handle the pressure of being favourites, you won’t win most tournaments. England were/are the favourites in this World Cup with India just behind them. The table also reflected it. It didn’t look like the Indians were nervous tbh. They probably didn’t read the wicket correctly and played casually against some very disciplined bowling (definitely not in the league of Amir’s spell in the CT). Before they knew it, they were 6/3. I think it’s a complacency issue. We saw that against Afghanistan, we saw that against England. They simply don’t have the attitude of a champion team which is very saddening. The team is poorly managed too in terms of scheduling. All players looked very exhausted.

 

[Hasan123]

If people think they are the favourites, India can’t control that.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Not really. India is just too stubborn, and doesn't believe in fixing the issue of having only three batsmen in their batting line-up.

They will always surrender pressure games, since it's inhuman to expect the top 3 to keep doing it every time they step out on the field.

 

[surg]

Yeah
They seemed confident from the day they arrived in England. Even after they lost the warm-up game against NZ
They became over confident after beating SA, Aus, Pakistan,
Rohit Sharma was thinking of scoring a few more centuries.
Virat was also thinking on the same lines
Middle order wanted to play the last 15-20overs only.

 

[Saj]

I don't think pressure played a part in their loss.

Quite simply they were over-reliant on 2 batsmen, whilst the others simply weren't up to the job.

 

[PakLFC]

"Favourites" tag like it or not puts pressure on the team. Don't know if the bookmakers had India as favourities.

 

[Dingolfy]

I don't think pressure played a part in their loss.

Quite simply they were over-reliant on 2 batsmen, whilst the others simply weren't up to the job.

Pressure did play a part, especially for Kohli. He had weathered the likes of Jimmy Anderson is worse conditions, had all the skills to survive NZ seamers for the first 10 overs but chickened out just like how he did against Amir in CT 2017.

 

[Hasan123]

Would rather go into a tournament as favourite than be the unpredictable team.

 

[gazza619]

I don't think pressure played a part in their loss.

Quite simply they were over-reliant on 2 batsmen, whilst the others simply weren't up to the job.

I couldnt figure out what DK was doing in that eleven. Surely India has batsmen who are ready to stride into the national team.

 

[shane]

Not sure why anyone thinks India was favourites for the World cup. They got as far as they were expected to go, and no further.

 

[sweep_shot]

I think "favorite" tag creates a bit of pressure. It generates unrealistic expectations and can give players unnecessary stress.

 

[big_gamer007]

I don't think pressure played a part in their loss.

Quite simply they were over-reliant on 2 batsmen, whilst the others simply weren't up to the job.

Yup pretty much.

And both Rohit and Kohli got great balls.
Rohits in particular was a peach and one can't blame him for getting out to such a delivery.
Kohli always has been susceptible against left handers bringing ball into him at start of innings. He practices very hard in net with jadeja bowling him chucked deliveries thrown with a sling. That makes Kohli adjust to the angle of left handers. It helps him to leave delivery outside off stump and be sure of where to play and leave deliveries of left hand bowlers with that angle.

However these slingshot deliveries can't help Kohli to practice against balls coming in late. I don't think there's any technology to practice against such deliveries. Most batsmen are susceptible to such deliveries and that's why Wasim was a top notch bowler. The only way Kohli can get used to such deliveries is if he plays county cricket at top level and practice in swinging conditions in nets against bowlers with capability to bring ball back in to him late at decent pace.

Unfortunately that won't happen so Kohli will always be susceptible against such balls. It's all about first 7-8 overs. If Rohit didn't get out in first 7-8 overs then Kohli would have won us the match because his weakness would have been nullified once ball becomes a bit softer.

Won't blame Kohli and Rohit for their batting the blame should be on captaincy, management, selection, planning for the world cup. In world cup you can't play just 2 batsmen and expect to win. So we didn't deserve to win.

But nothing will change, BCCI will hire couple of series against SL or WI. On flat tracks players will boost their stats and fans will forget and media will hype the players to be the best in world. Advertisement companies will start milking money again using this media hype.

This is how Indian cricket operates in a nutshell. India as a country is run on emotions more than on PPP (planning/performance/professionalism).

 

[Captain caveman]

Yes my favourite tag is "hurting india"!!

 

[RamLakhan]

India simple dont have the middle order right now. Even then India would have won the WC if it was played in India.
But in England the new ball does a bit sometimes and unfortunately for India both in CT final and WC semis their top order succumbed to some pace and swing

Good point! Now people will not point at England (or even NZ) for winning in their favorite/home conditions! But if India wins the next world cup (in India) then they will termed again as HTBs (even if India has a better team then with all the areas covered and if they are good enough to win anywhere!)

We proper Indian fans agree that this team had loopholes and it deserved the defeat! This same England team can win even in India at the moment (may not be convincingly, some of our spinners can give tough time in the middle-overs!)

 

[RamLakhan]

Yup pretty much.

And both Rohit and Kohli got great balls.
Rohits in particular was a peach and one can't blame him for getting out to such a delivery.
Kohli always has been susceptible against left handers bringing ball into him at start of innings. He practices very hard in net with jadeja bowling him chucked deliveries thrown with a sling. That makes Kohli adjust to the angle of left handers. It helps him to leave delivery outside off stump and be sure of where to play and leave deliveries of left hand bowlers with that angle.

However these slingshot deliveries can't help Kohli to practice against balls coming in late. I don't think there's any technology to practice against such deliveries. Most batsmen are susceptible to such deliveries and that's why Wasim was a top notch bowler. The only way Kohli can get used to such deliveries is if he plays county cricket at top level and practice in swinging conditions in nets against bowlers with capability to bring ball back in to him late at decent pace.

Unfortunately that won't happen so Kohli will always be susceptible against such balls. It's all about first 7-8 overs. If Rohit didn't get out in first 7-8 overs then Kohli would have won us the match because his weakness would have been nullified once ball becomes a bit softer.

Won't blame Kohli and Rohit for their batting the blame should be on captaincy, management, selection, planning for the world cup. In world cup you can't play just 2 batsmen and expect to win. So we didn't deserve to win.

But nothing will change, BCCI will hire couple of series against SL or WI. On flat tracks players will boost their stats and fans will forget and media will hype the players to be the best in world. Advertisement companies will start milking money again using this media hype.

This is how Indian cricket operates in a nutshell. India as a country is run on emotions more than on PPP (planning/performance/professionalism).

Good points about PPP and about Kohli! That's why I always felt Kohli should come at No.4 as he does in Tests! He is such a key player in the team and if Indian batting needs solidity in the middle order then he has to move down to No.4 (instead of searching for this stupid No.4 batsman all these years, he could have made up his own mind for that position! We could have got Shaw/Gill/Mayanak or anyone at No.3 if Rahul is not good enough!) and today's modern cricket ensures that you can score lot of runs at No.4 as well...

 

[Executioner]

First of all India were not the favourites of this World Cup and certainly not the 2017 CT either. Both times it was England who btw failed in the CT 2017 against a supreme Pakistan side.

Even in the 2015 CWC India had a strong batting lineup but they didn't have a world class bowling attack which they have now but still you would reckon they were on par with Australia NZ SA. Infact, I would have said on paper SA looked favourites, just look at their team:

Amla
De Kock
De Villiers
Faf
Morkel
Steyn
Tahir
Miller
Duminy

-All household name and they were IN-FORM heading into the tournament. They even had guys like Rossouw AND Abbott who were pretty good. Yet they lost to teams like India and Pakistan, lost a close in the Semis. In respect, India had a gun batting lineup with inform Dhoni and Suresh Raina but SA had the bowling caliber.

2014/2016 WT20. TBH India never were the "favourites" because traditionally India have not exceled in T20 as much as they would have liked. 2009/2010/2012 they could win only 1 match in the 2nd round. I think they did pretty well to get to the final and semis in 2014 and 2016 but not favourites to me.

2011 was the only time one could say India were the favourites mainly because of home conditions which suits their batsman and they had spinners in Yuvi and Bhajji. Pace attack was substandard though but they got all bases covered.

Having said that, they were always among the likely contenders for the world cup. They didn't neccessarily under-achieve apart from the 2017 CT were they lost to Pakistan and Sri Lanka while I would say they over-achieved in 2014 WT20 and 2013 CT. The Champions Trophy win was big because it was away from home. India certainly aren't chokers. They just could not find some luck ever since 2014.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Top four teams of every ICC tournament in the current decade

India has made it 7 out of 8 times