The only thing common about Common Sense is that it is uncommon.
You need 11 of the last over and have just scored 9 of the first three. Two reasonably good batsmen at the crease, one a former Captain. The common sensical thing is to put bat on ball and get two singles, right? And NOT hit the ball in the Air, come what may!
But heck, no! First Mushfiqur goes for glory trying to hit a six and gets caught in the cows corner. The batsmen crosses. Two of Two now, and the other set batsman Mahmadullah, who has played 48 minutes on strike, as batsmen had crossed over. You would expect him to take a single and tie the score, thus ensuring at least a tie, and a Super Over. You thought wrong! He goes for an ugly slog and picks the best Indian fielder. I don't blame the batsmen for the run out of the last ball. They had to take the bye, but only Dhoni was a shade quicker. Pandya heaved a sigh of relief, but then he should not have been bowling the last over at all. It should have been Bumrah. Pandya should have bowled the 19th when 17 was required of 2. Bumrahs Yorkers would have defended 8 or 9 in the last over easily.
Only that run out by Dhoni, running and breaking the wicket, instead of throwing , the right thing done by anyone on a crazy day of cricket.
The nonsense started long ago, when India were batting. Well, you can say even prior to that, when the team was selected. This World cup has been about spinners as the pitches are turning and slow. Why the hell are you picking Pandya over either Harbhajan or even Negi. Both of them can bat as well as Pandya (who has not set Indian cricket on fire with either his batting or bowling) and are definitely much better bowlers in these conditions. And why o why did we not include a leg spinner in the team in the first place? Amit Mishra would have been a handful to any team, and he is no mug with the bat lower down.
At the end of the 5th over, India were 27-0, and had struggled a bit. The last over of the power play and Rohit and Dhawan cut loose. First 5 balls read 1,6,1,6,1. Bangladesh on the backfoot with 15 already of the over and India a healthy 42-0. Ideally Rohit should have pushed for a single or two and ended the over with 16-17. Oh no! The idiot had to go for a cross batted old fashioned slog and hole out, shifting the momentum back to Bangladesh.
Your partner has just got out after a good over. You would expect Dhawan, who was batting very well to play straight and pick singles easily the next over. No way! He goes for an ugly sweep and got himself LBW. Ridiculous!
Kohli and Raina rebuild well and we are 84-2 after 13. First 3 balls of the 14th over read 4,1,6, taking the score to 95-2. Take couple of singles and we had a decent over of 13-15. And Kohli plays an atrocious cross batted shot to get bowled. And this on a pitch where the odd ball was keeping low. Another piece of nonsense cricket from the best batsman of the side.
Come the 16th over, and Raina gets out first ball with score 112-4. Still 29 balls to go. Pandya batting well, Yuvraj walks in and Dhoni to follow. And Pandya, who had crossed over goes for a pull, and was out to a stunner of a catch. The catch was great, but that was a non percentage shot immediately after a wicket has fallen.
All the above small situations where we showed utter lack of common and cricketing sense ensured we were 15-20 runs short.
We won in the end, only because Bangladesh lost their head, but we didn't deserve to win
