INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Why did India have an off day in the final after a 10-game winning streak? And what explains this repeated tendency to freeze in the
the silverware that really mattered
How Pat Cummins silenced the Ahmedabad crowd with Aussie team's flawless performance in the finalsSince the 2013 Champions Trophy triumph
in England, India have hit a similar trajectory
The team, which was playing with such freedom when there was the cushion of a round-robin league format, froze when it was down to the
All the cobwebs of doubt that Rohit Sharma and Co
were trying to clear in the lead-up came back to haunt them at the worst possible moment
Rahul Dravid on India's loss, Rohit's captaincy: There was a lot of emotion in the dressing roomIt could well be a case of peaking early
The team, so mentally invested in a month-long event, might have felt drained just when it mattered
The other explanation could be the fact that for 10 games in the World Cup, the Indian lower middle-order never came under any pressure
Such was the imperious form of the top-five that the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja had gone off the boil with the bat
Sending these two up the order in games against South Africa and Netherlands after the team had made the semis might have given them a
little more game-time in the middle, which they seemed to lack in the final
clutter of the fear of failure.WatchPM Modi consoles team India in dressing room after World Cup final loss against Australia
