Most cowardly performances in World Cup history

[Sin Nombre]

India needing 104 to win in last 10 overs score 72/1 and end the match with 5 wickets left. NRR was not an issue at any point.

Share other such performances.

 

[Mamoon]

Pakistan vs West Indies defined cowardice.

 

[Syed1]

Yup pretty much.... Not a single boundary was hit from overs 46-49 and this is after they started off at 30-1 in the first 10.



Pathetic coward performance

 

[barah_admi]

India needing 104 to win in last 10 overs score 72/1 and end the match with 5 wickets left. NRR was not an issue at any point.

Share other such performances.

You don't think a RRR of almost 12 was not an issue?

 

[Sin Nombre]

You don't think a RRR of almost 12 was not an issue?

10.4 needed over the last 10. Dhoni came in and started wasting balls putting pressure on Hardik. The 12+ was when Pandya got out.

 

[Sin Nombre]

Pakistan vs West Indies defined cowardice.

They got bounced out after playing on pattas for a month against England, happens.

 

[barah_admi]

10.4 needed over the last 10. Dhoni came in and started wasting balls putting pressure on Hardik. The 12+ was when Pandya got out.

If you watch the entire match, the RRR reached 11.54 at one stage. It dropped a little by the 40th over but it was still too much to get for the guys who were att he crease. Is it unusual for Dhoni to be slow? No. Is Pandya a hack? Yes. Who else was supposed to build a sustained innings against Plunkett and Archer? New comer Pant? Kedar?

Let us be serious, the game was lost in the first 20 overs.

 

[Sin Nombre]

If you watch the entire match, the RRR reached 11.54 at one stage. It dropped a little by the 40th over but it was still too much to get for the guys who were att he crease. Is it unusual for Dhoni to be slow? No. Is Pandya a hack? Yes. Who else was supposed to build a sustained innings against Plunkett and Archer? New comer Pant? Kedar?

Let us be serious, the game was lost in the first 20 overs.

Worms were touching when Dhoni came in.


That said, India lost the match in 3 10-over spells.

England overs 11-20. Dhoni non-review of Roy and the spinners to blame.

India overs 1-10. Top 3 especially KL.

India overs 41-50. Dhoni and Kedar.

 

[Hasan123]

Don't think losing 31 runs is that bad. NZ performance was much worse . Was not even a contest.

I think Canda 36 all out vs Sri Lanka at the 2003 WC World Cup is the most cowardice performance.

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

Pakistan vs West Indies defined cowardice.

They had Australia 79/5 and NZ 7/2 .
West Indies bowling attack in the first few overs was really good especially on a pacy/bouncy track. Pakistan were the first one to face them in that WC and got caught out but they troubled a lot of top teams as per you.

Next game we beat Tournament favorites , best team in the world and your favorite England . That takes some courage .

We got a mediocre team and no one is denying that but you take it a bit far and I think you know it too.

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

Pakistan vs West Indies defined cowardice.

more than failing to chase 200 vs a beaten down Sri Lanka in own backyard as world cup favorites?

I really do not think so

 

[MMHS]

No, most cowardly performance was Bangladesh against Australia in this WC - there are enough evidences here in PP, in that game thread. Minnow cowards still had 2 wickets at hand and finished at 333/8 chasing 383. India was practicing here for the SF, from ball 1 ........

 

[Sin Nombre]

No, most cowardly performance was Bangladesh against Australia in this WC - there are enough evidences here in PP, in that game thread. Minnow cowards still had 2 wickets at hand and finished at 333/8 chasing 383. India was practicing here for the SF, from ball 1 ........

BD were cowardly against both Aus and England but at least had the excuse of preserving NRR.

India here did not.

 

[PakLFC]

Weird that a big hitter like Dhoni gave in so easily. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[Salma_T]

So should the match be referred to ICC integrity board? As that is what is being implied?

 

[Roadie]

The ICC needs to take a look at this match.

Something doesn't seem right.

 

[Roadie]

So should the match be referred to ICC integrity board? As that is what is being implied?

This needs to be investigated

 

[marlonbrowndo]

Younis and Misbah against India 2011

 

[Abdullah]

104 in 10 overs should have been on with 6 wickets in hand.
I won't say India should have made it, but you should be getting a lot closer than they did and it should have been nailbiting.
You would not normally fall 31 short AND still have 5 wickets in hand.
It would make sense if you lost 8 9 wickets and that's the reason u end up 30 short, bit not like this

 

[Sadevdesai]

We can badmouth the Indians all we want, but WE created the mess for ourselves in first place, and now we want the Indians to bail our tails out ????? They don’t like us, and we hate them .... so now we are EVEN !!!!! I am sure they slapping each other on the back tonight. All is not lost yet .... just got little tougher !!!! We have to deal with it, guys !!!!

 

[barah_admi]

View attachment 93314

Worms were touching when Dhoni came in.


That said, India lost the match in 3 10-over spells.

England overs 11-20. Dhoni non-review of Roy and the spinners to blame.

India overs 1-10. Top 3 especially KL.

India overs 41-50. Dhoni and Kedar.

The worms touched for the brifest moment. That is like a period of 3 overs (looks like 35-38). Also, do you know what this graph represents? It shows when the two sides have level runs, not the socring rate.

 

[Usergame]

Nothing cowardly about it at all. They are in the semis.
Pakistan surrendering vs westindies was easily the most cowardly performance of this world cup

 

[wazzy]

104 in 10 overs should have been on with 6 wickets in hand.
I won't say India should have made it, but you should be getting a lot closer than they did and it should have been nailbiting.
You would not normally fall 31 short AND still have 5 wickets in hand.
It would make sense if you lost 8 9 wickets and that's the reason u end up 30 short, bit not like this

Intent was totally missing in the last overs. They were actually just dabbing for ones instead of swinging their bats, moving around in the crease etc to upset the bowlers or create big shot opportunities... Wonder Why?

 

[wazzy]

104 in 10 overs with 6 wickets was gettable in this day and age especially for IPL cricketers and given one side of the pitch was hand throw away at 59m.... It was plain to see there was no attempt to chase down the total... fishy to say the least.

 

[King-Misbah]

The ICC needs to take a look at this match.

Something doesn't seem right.

Wake up bro

 

[Technics 1210]

In world cup history? There is only 1, Mohali.

 

[CricketIsAwesome]

India needing 104 to win in last 10 overs score 72/1 and end the match with 5 wickets left. NRR was not an issue at any point.

Share other such performances.

Pakistan caving into the Windies in their opener was worse.

Before you start using such big words, look them up first

 

[Bewal Express]

No one but ourselves to blame. That Windies performance will be the one that kills us.

 

[Revolution]

Coward people talk about others!! Prove your self and then talk about others.

 

[BaankeJi]

India needing 104 to win in last 10 overs score 72/1 and end the match with 5 wickets left. NRR was not an issue at any point.

Share other such performances.

Actually NRR was a major issue. England bowled well.
I don't understand why is it surprising. Dhoni bats like that - it is not unusual.
He is there in team for his keeping and a bit of tactics. Certainly not for his batting.

 

[anand99]

I cannot help but laugh at the historic levels of tantrums and whining here. If your team wants to be in the semis, then win your games rather than beg for India to win theirs for you

 

[Salma_T]

[MENTION=5463]anand99[/MENTION] i am Pakistan supporter and totally agree.....you cannot expect favours.

 

[Sin Nombre]

Actually NRR was a major issue. England bowled well.
I don't understand why is it surprising. Dhoni bats like that - it is not unusual.
He is there in team for his keeping and a bit of tactics. Certainly not for his batting.

His keeping has deteriorated and his tactics was not going for DRS for Roy when he was out.

 

[Napa]

India needing 104 to win in last 10 overs score 72/1 and end the match with 5 wickets left. NRR was not an issue at any point.

Share other such performances.

While on paper India had 5 wickets left, you should also remember the "batsmen" waiting in the wings were Kuldeep, Chahal, Shami and Bumrah, arguably the worst 4 last 4 for any team.

People thinking that India's performance was "cowardly" should consider that Dhoni scored 42 off 31 balls (S/R of 135) in a game which was not of great significance to India.

In comparison Sarfaraz scored 40 off 48 balls (S/R of 83) against Australia in a game that was of great importance to Pakistan.

India needed to score at a S/R of 230 after Pandya's departure. If Sarfaraz had scored at a S/R of 230, Pakistan would have won the game with 2 overs to spare!

It appears that people are upset that Dhoni (S/R of 135) didn't get out while Sarfaraz (S/R of 83) did.

 

[Napa]

Actually NRR was a major issue. England bowled well.
I don't understand why is it surprising. Dhoni bats like that - it is not unusual.
He is there in team for his keeping and a bit of tactics. Certainly not for his batting.

Dhoni scored 42* at a S/R of 135. People are asking for the moon if they think he could score 80 at a S/R of 250.

 

[Captain caveman]

No favours asked for!

Icc rules regarding odis are that you must try to WIN matches!
Did india try to win?
Lost with 5 wickets in hand!
Last 5 overs were playing for singles when the required rate was 13!
Only hitting one six in the entire indian innings, with a 59m boundary, england hit 13 sixes!
STOP DEFLECTING ONTO PAKISTAN AND FAVOURS!

 

[CricketIsAwesome]

No favours asked for!

Icc rules regarding odis are that you must try to WIN matches!
Did india try to win?
Lost with 5 wickets in hand!
Last 5 overs were playing for singles when the required rate was 13!
Only hitting one six in the entire indian innings, with a 59m boundary, england hit 13 sixes!
STOP DEFLECTING ONTO PAKISTAN AND FAVOURS!

You don't know that and are not privy to the strategy of Dhoni or team India. You and a lot of your fellow posters were hoping that the mediocre Pakistan team make it to the SF riding on thurs backs of other teams performing poorly. That didn't click, sorry.
Build a team from the grounds up and work towards winning, not whining

 

[Bhaijaan]

As much as this might hurt some people but after the way India played yesterday, they don’t deserve the spirit of cricket medal and definitely don’t deserve the World Cup anymore

 

[anikrc1]

As much as this might hurt some people but after the way India played yesterday, they don’t deserve the spirit of cricket medal and definitely don’t deserve the World Cup anymore

Why would bumrah bowl that spell in the death if india was looking to lose?

 

[CricketIsAwesome]

As much as this might hurt some people but after the way India played yesterday, they don’t deserve the spirit of cricket medal and definitely don’t deserve the World Cup anymore

Are you one of those who literally believes that this is a "gentleman's game". Too bad, that ship sailed decades ago

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

BD were cowardly against both Aus and England but at least had the excuse of preserving NRR.

India here did not.

Sarcasm bhai.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

While on paper India had 5 wickets left, you should also remember the "batsmen" waiting in the wings were Kuldeep, Chahal, Shami and Bumrah, arguably the worst 4 last 4 for any team.

People thinking that India's performance was "cowardly" should consider that Dhoni scored 42 off 31 balls (S/R of 135) in a game which was not of great significance to India.

In comparison Sarfaraz scored 40 off 48 balls (S/R of 83) against Australia in a game that was of great importance to Pakistan.

India needed to score at a S/R of 230 after Pandya's departure. If Sarfaraz had scored at a S/R of 230, Pakistan would have won the game with 2 overs to spare!

It appears that people are upset that Dhoni (S/R of 135) didn't get out while Sarfaraz (S/R of 83) did.

He didn't even try.

Thats the issue.

 

[Napa]

He didn't even try.

Thats the issue.

A chase of 338 was most likely never going to succeed. The only chance of it ended when Rohit and Pandya got out. Dhoni got us over 300, which is a lot better than the innings ending at 275 and India going into a semi with England with their batting in doubt.

The fact that we crossed 300 means that when we play (likely) England again in the semis, we should have confidence that we will put up a score around 350 if we bat first.

People criticizing Dhoni and Jhadav for not trying to achieve superhuman feats are forgetting that Dhoni scored in the last over 70% of the runs India's top order scored in the first 10 overs!

 

[Suleiman]

Younis 2011 semi takes the cake.

He was a bigger culprit than Misbah.

Turned heel in ODIs since then till he got rightfully kicked out by 2015 [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]

 

[MP2011]

A chase of 338 was most likely never going to succeed. The only chance of it ended when Rohit and Pandya got out. Dhoni got us over 300, which is a lot better than the innings ending at 275 and India going into a semi with England with their batting in doubt.

The fact that we crossed 300 means that when we play (likely) England again in the semis, we should have confidence that we will put up a score around 350 if we bat first.

People criticizing Dhoni and Jhadav for not trying to achieve superhuman feats are forgetting that Dhoni scored in the last over 70% of the runs India's top order scored in the first 10 overs!

Are you for real? This is now how champion teams play? As SIF said, issue is not even trying as has been the norm with grandpa since last WC!

Does last WC SF ring bells? If it doesn't, forget it.

Had that happened with someone like Australia, that person would've never played for them, again.

 

[happydavy]

Cowardice may be stretching it too far simply because if India deliberately lost then I would call it a strategy, and if not then it was incompetence. I don't think that deliberately losing was the case as Dhoni had done this multiple times in the last 4 years where he gave up a little too soon. Jadhav is genuinely bad and have been saying this for a while that this middle order is bound to get exposed in run chases.

 

[MP2011]

And a big lol at this,

Dhoni scored in the last over 70% of the runs India's top order scored in the first 10 overs!

 

[happydavy]

It doesn't matter if India scored 28 of 10 overs as they didn't stop trying and managed to get to 150 by 28th over. Dhoni meanwhile stopped trying to win, that's the issue and not whether India or lost. You don't stand there nudging singles when your team needs 60 runs in 4 overs, as you can't make up for slow beginning post 50th over (you can do that after first 10 overs).

 

[Bhaijaan]

In the words of the legendary Anil Kumble, only one team was playing in the spirit of cricket yesterday.

 

[Captain caveman]

Sunil gavaskar - 36 runs in 60 overs in the 1975 wc. Some indian fans even tried to slap him while he was batting if i am not mistaken!

 

[Syed1]

It doesn't matter if India scored 28 of 10 overs as they didn't stop trying and managed to get to 150 by 28th over. Dhoni meanwhile stopped trying to win, that's the issue and not whether India or lost. You don't stand there nudging singles when your team needs 60 runs in 4 overs, as you can't make up for slow beginning post 50th over (you can do that after first 10 overs).

Finally an Indian who gets why we are mad. Had India tried to win and lost we would have commended them for a match well played and thanked them for their effort. Throwing a match like some Indians did makes it seem very suspicious.

 

[MP2011]

Dhoni should definitely play for India again after having scored 42* with S/R 135.

No wonder with cricketing knowledge like this, Indian team today is basically a 2-men batting order.

 

[happydavy]

Finally an Indian who gets why we are mad. Had India tried to win and lost we would have commended them for a match well played and thanked them for their effort. Throwing a match like some Indians did makes it seem very suspicious.

I won't go the extent of saying that he threw the match because common sense says if he wanted to throw the match, he would have tried to lose by 10-12 runs and not this blatantly. I think it was sheer incompetence, and those who closely follow Indian cricket knows it has happened multiple times now. The same thing happened in 2nd ODI against England last year, when fans booed him as he didn't try to win at all.

 

[MP2011]

I won't go the extent of saying that he threw the match because common sense says if he wanted to throw the match, he would have tried to lose by 10-12 runs and not this blatantly. I think it was sheer incompetence, and those who closely follow Indian cricket knows it has happened multiple times now. The same thing happened in 2nd ODI against England last year, when fans booed him as he didn't try to win at all.

This! Loss isn't an issue, not trying is.

 

[Mercurial]

Dubious more than cowardice, just like our chase in the 2011 WC SF against India.

 

[ak619]

It doesn't matter if India scored 28 of 10 overs as they didn't stop trying and managed to get to 150 by 28th over. Dhoni meanwhile stopped trying to win, that's the issue and not whether India or lost. You don't stand there nudging singles when your team needs 60 runs in 4 overs, as you can't make up for slow beginning post 50th over (you can do that after first 10 overs).

Even batsmen of the calibre of Kohli and Rohit had to play almost 15 overs to settle down on this pitch. Only after that did they get going.

But you're going to apply the same yardstick for batsmen who come in which no such luxury of playing out 30 balls and on top of that are expected to score at double the rate that anyone in the top 4 did. Wah!

 

[Napa]

And a big lol at this,

Dhoni scored in the last over 70% of the runs India's top order scored in the first 10 overs!

Didn't look at the numbers carefully. But it is true that Dhoni and Jhadav scored 39 runs from the last 5 overs, while India's top order scored only 28 runs from the first 10 overs.

People should stop criticizing Dhoni and Jhadav, the outcome of the match was decided elsewhere.

 

[spiderreddy]

No it's not cowardice. It's just lack of skill

 

[Napa]

It doesn't matter if India scored 28 of 10 overs as they didn't stop trying and managed to get to 150 by 28th over. Dhoni meanwhile stopped trying to win, that's the issue and not whether India or lost. You don't stand there nudging singles when your team needs 60 runs in 4 overs, as you can't make up for slow beginning post 50th over (you can do that after first 10 overs).

Psychologically it was important to get beyond 300 after a start where our RR was 2.8 after 10 overs. We are going to play England again, and it is better were were not bowled out for 275.

If it was a knockout match it would have been different, but given the circumstances what Dhoni did can't be criticized.

 

[Napa]

Dubious more than cowardice, just like our chase in the 2011 WC SF against India.

The difference being that was a knockout match and this was not.

 

[Havok]

They made 300 runs, that's still a pretty solid score.

 

[Vidwan Nath]

I am an indian and i agree to this post. Most selfish ( MS ) dhoni should be kicked out of the team.. i was a big admirer of him. Bt he has regressed as a tail ender.. would like to exchange wahab for dhoni

 

[Kianig89]

From recent WC

PAKISTAN V INDIA MOHALI 2011

Pakistan vs West Indies 2019

 

[Shafi]

Nothing new!!! India did same thing in 1992. Thankfully Australia won the match against WI and let us qualify instead of WI.
We should never rely on others to bail us out

 

[shahidrazzaq]

The World Cup is the biggest stage of the game, so there's way too many instances people or teams could have crumbled. So I'll only pick some cowardly performances in WC History from Pakistani performances:

Javed Miandad vs India 1996 Quarter Final -- 38 from 64, when they needed 156 from 170

Arguably entire Pakistani team 1999 Final

Entire batting line-up vs India 2011 (Mohali Semi-Final) -- needed 158 from 157, with YK/Misbah/Umar Akmal/Razzaq/Afridi....../Wahab/Gul remaining in line-up

Including World T20 --

Honorable mention: Saeed Ajmal v Hussey, Ben Stokes v Brathwaite

 

[battler]

Yeah what about this performance from Nz. Atleast India tried till 45th over.

 

[TheRock]

Pakistan vs West Indies defined cowardice.

+1

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Psychologically it was important to get beyond 300 after a start where our RR was 2.8 after 10 overs. We are going to play England again, and it is better were were not bowled out for 275.

If it was a knockout match it would have been different, but given the circumstances what Dhoni did can't be criticized.

Cmon Napa.

You know what really happened.

 

[WengerOut]

Did the Viv Richardsque innings of 36 by Sunil "I am always right" Gavaskar come in a WC? That should definitely take the cake

 

[Napa]

Cmon Napa.

You know what really happened.

I think what really happened was that Dhoni and Jhadav couldn't push the scoring rate to the required 14 given the quality of the bowling and the state of the pitch. Batsmen try not to play high risk shots unless the situation is desperate. Pandya was swinging away and that's how he got out. Dhoni just can't up the scoring rate anymore, look at the last 5 overs against Bangladesh when India scored 35 vs. 39 against England.

Did they give up? Maybe. There is nothing which says that Indian batsmen have to swing wildly hoping for victory when they have already qualified for the next round and the probability of success is 1% or worse.

 

[mudassir84]

Most coward performance would be 1975 england vs india

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

104 in 10 overs should have been on with 6 wickets in hand.
I won't say India should have made it, but you should be getting a lot closer than they did and it should have been nailbiting.
You would not normally fall 31 short AND still have 5 wickets in hand.
It would make sense if you lost 8 9 wickets and that's the reason u end up 30 short, bit not like this

It was bad but people are overreacting over five wickets, we didn't have bhajji, Agarkar, Zaheer, Jadeja, Ashwini, or Bhabi. We have Sami, Kuldeep, Chahal, and Bumraah.
Sami was our no. 8 next batsman to bat. We had no lower order.
Match was lost when we needed78 in 6 overs with Sami as a next batsman to come, yeah they should have tried it but Dhoni and Jadhav both were out of form and they are playing bad from Afghan match, see their scores from afghan match.
Dhoni even botched it in Bangla match

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

One of the main reason I wanted Pant, Gill, Agarwal and Shaw to get enough match practice before WC but we screws up first with Raydu, then Shankar and Jadhav.
In semi decide whether pitch is spinning or not, if pitch is not spinning then go with three fast bowlers and Jadeja, because for high scoring match we need a batsman till no. 9

 

[princeuk]

No-one is saying that India owe it to Pakistan to try and get them through, they owe it to themselves and owe it to their paying public who come to watch them to try their level best and show INTENT, but there was no INTENT. Not at the beginning nor the end and many non-pakistanis commented on this too.

 

[Enforcer]

India needing 104 to win in last 10 overs score 72/1 and end the match with 5 wickets left. NRR was not an issue at any point.

Share other such performances.

Not possible to score 104 in 10 overs on such a slow pitch. I can bet even Buttler can't chase such a huge amount of runs on such a slow pitch. It is not like we are playing in chinnaswamy stadium, under the lights with dew factor . And we have the worst tailenders in the world.