Five and a half years ago or so, when the West Indies blazed to a victory in the second Semi-Final of the World T20 2016, Dhoni heavily blamed the dew behind India´s inability at defending the score. On this forum, and also in general, he was dismissed and mocked as a whinger who whinged and offered lame excuses for the loss. If I recall correctly, he also suggested an early start to bring about an equality in terms of the playing condition for both the teams. The reason why I didn´t push much of Dhoni´s agenda was that a team knows what it might end up facing and should be better prepared to face such situations if you´re dreaming of winning the tournament. India could´ve, and should´ve, got those extra 10 to 15 runs that evening in Wankhede, and Rahane should´ve played at a better pace; and I would say the same about the last two matches of the tournament. Pakistan getting 71 off 9.5 overs without having lost a wicket was criminal, and Guptill´s incredibly slow innings did the same to New Zealand in the Final. With dew being sure to play a significant role in the game, you´re merely hoping for a miracle from your bowlers if you´re aiming for 175-ish score. 190 was required in both the matches, definitely. Still though, a better effort from the New Zealand bowlers would´ve put the Australians under severe pressure chasing a good-ish score in a final. Pressure can make you do funny things.
All that said, the ICC absolutely must address the issue themselves. Either a full-night T20I match should be considered so that the dew plays a role in both the innings, or an early start by 90 to 120 minutes should be brought in, at least for the semi-finals and the final, if not for all the matches. Surely, we´re in 2021, and matches being so heavily decided by the coin toss is a poor effort on the part of the governing body of the game, surely.
