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Bharat Arun admits two reasons behind India's indifferent performance in T20 World Cup
India, the pre-tournament favourites, started off with losses against Pakistan and New Zealand in the Super 12 stage before beating Afghanistan and Scotland.
A day before what could be his final assignment for the Indian team, outgoing bowling coach Bharat Arun admitted two reasons behind India's indifferent show at the ongoing T20 World Cup in the UAE. India, the pre-tournament favourites, started off with losses against Pakistan and New Zealand in the Super 12 stage before beating Afghanistan and Scotland. With their semi-final hopes on thin ice, Arun opined that toss and bio-bubble fatigue were the key reasons behind the defeats.
Reiterating pacer Jasprit Bumrah's words, who had previously talked about the same after India's defeat to New Zealand in their second game, Arun said, "Being on the road for six months is huge ask. Players haven't gone home and I think they had a short break after the last IPL got suspended."
Most of the Indian players, including captain Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rishabh Pant among others have been on the road since June when the Test team had reached England for the World Test Championship final. It was followed by the five-Test series against Joe Root's men and then the players were transferred into the Indian Premier League (IPL) bio-bubble in the UAE.
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"They have been in a bubble for six months and that takes a huge toll, so specific to your question, may be a short break between IPL and World Cup could have done a lot of good for these boys," Arun said on the eve of India's final group league game against Namibia.
Arun also felt disappointed that toss played a huge and "unfair" role in India's two defeats in the campaign.
"Toss played a very, very vital role and I believe in these kind of matches, toss shouldn't be of any consequence," he said.
"Here toss gives unfair advantage and there is a huge change in batting in the first innings and batting in the second innings. That shouldn't be the case in short format like this," he said.
India will play their final group game against Namibia on Monday. However, their semi-final fate depends on the game between Afghanistan and New Zealand in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. If Mohammad Nabi's men can beat the Blackcaps, India will have one foot in the semis given they win their final group game.
