Welcome to the knockouts: Time to carve lasting legacy

Semis and finals, with all that’s at stake on such occasions, can make you do special yet strange things, all at the same time

- Vivek Krishnan

NEW DELHI: After 45 matches without a pause in the preliminary phase of the World Cup, the 46th will be played in Mumbai on Wednesday. In theory, it's another game in a long tournament that has entered its final week. So, it's about following routines and processes that have served you well so far, right? In theory, it's also the semi-final of a World Cup. Which means all that has happened over the past five weeks could be of little significance. Semi-finals and finals, with all that's at stake on such occasions, can make you do special and strange things at once. They can make players carve lasting legacies. They can also make players, otherwise formidable, buckle under stress.

They can make teams not showing a shred of nerve in the league phase suddenly panic and head for the exit door.

India know all about the latter, having lost to New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semi-final in Manchester due to a momentary phase of frenzy and ineptitude with the bat. They had lost just once in the preliminary stage in contrast to New Zealand's three defeats, but a chase of 240 proved beyond their reach once they were reduced to 5/3 and 24/4 within the first ten overs.