T20 World Cup 2021: Former cricketers including Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and others reacted to India bowing out of the semi-final contention after New Zealand defeated Afghanistan.
The Indian cricket team’s failure to reach the T20 World Cup 2021 semi-finals was confirmed when Kane Williamson-led New Zealand defeated Afghanistan and secured the only remaining semis spot from the group. Virat Kohli and Team India will look to make amends and end the tournament on a high, a match which will be Kohli’s last as captain of the side in the T20 format. The match against Namibia will also be Ravi Shastri’s last as the head coach of Team India, with Rahul Dravid taking over after the end of ongoing tournament. Following New Zealand’s win, many ex-Team India players gave their opinion on India’s premature departure from the competition.
Virender Sehwag shared a meme which summed it all up for Indian fans.
Harbhajan Singh congratulated the New Zealand side and said that they thoroughly deserved a semi-final spot after Pakistan had made it through with convincing wins. Harbhajan wrote: “Well done @BLACKCAPS for getting into the semis..you guys deserve it. How good is Kane Williamson wah.. love this man and his NZ team.. I know India isn’t going forward, no worries we will get better and come back stronger @BCCI.”
Former bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad posted: “So after 9 years and 6 successive semi-final qualifications, India fail to qualify for the semi-finals of an ICC event. Haven’t played to potential and it will hurt the team a lot. Time to get the act right for next year’s world cup in Australia.”
The semi-finals line-up was completed by Pakistan, England, Australia and New Zealand. The final of the tournament is scheduled to be played on November 14.