Former T20 World Cup champions Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and regular contenders New Zealand failed to advance to the Super Eight and crashed out of their respective groups, shockingly, at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies.
Pakistan, along with India, was expected to make it out of Group A comfortably, but a shock Super Over loss to USA and a failed run chase against neighbours India, saw them fall one point short of qualification.
Sri Lanka and New Zealand, on the other hand, were in groups with more than two favourites to qualify with the former in Group D along with Bangladesh and South Africa. At the same time, the Kiwis were pitted against two-time champion West Indies and Afghanistan.
Both teams would have hoped to comfortably qualify, but subpar performances against their qualification contenders meant that both teams were on the flight back home before the Super Eight stage.
All three teams will rue missed chances and wonder what went wrong for them. The precarious nature of the pitches in the United States will definitely be a point of discussion for the teams that played their group stage games in New York, and Pakistan and Sri Lanka will feel undone by the bizarre wicket at Nassau County Stadium in New York. The duo will believe that different circumstances may have yielded different results.
Not only the pitches, but rain also played spoilsport in many games, denying Sri Lanka and Pakistan their crucial fourth game which may have changed their fortunes.
A series of tactical blunders, such as benching Tim Southee, the all-time leading wicket-taker in T20Is, in a crucial encounter against Afghanistan, and a death-over bowling collapse against West Indies, rendered New Zealand effectively eliminated from the tournament after two losses in their opening two games.
The same can be said for Sri Lanka, who after two losses and a No-Result against Nepal, finished third in their group with three points.
While the mistakes these heavyweights made can be analysed further, one must also appreciate the rise of cricket in the associate nations. No one would have backed the host USA to qualify at the start of the tournament. But a spirited performance from team USA, and social media sensation, Saurabh Netravalkar, saw USA defy expectations and beat Pakistan, and make it to the Super Eight with five points.