World T20: Two lone rangers, two shock defeats

We didn't get to see Sachin Tendulkar that night at the Eden Gar dens after he got out in the World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka in 1996. But Virat Kohli was there at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, a forlorn figure, hands on his head, as Andre Russell and Lendl Simmons celebrated.
March 13, 1996 was a painful day for every Indian cricket fan as the hosts -the team in form - lost to Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in the semi-final of the 50-over World Cup.The crowd erupted in anger. The match couldn't be finished due to crowd trouble, with India reduced to 120-8 chasing 252 on a vicious turner.
Nothing of that sort happened at the Wankhede Stadium 20 years and 18 days down the line as India lost to the West Indies in the World T20 semi-final. Probably, Indian fans have by now got used to the highs and lows of victory and defeat. But for old-timers, the two experiences felt uncannily similar. Just as the 1996 World Cup was all about Tendulkar, barring the odd cameo from Ajay Jadeja and a resilient 90 by Navjot Singh Sidhu against Pakistan in the quarterfinals, Indian hopes in this WT20 hinged entirely on Virat Kohli.
It was not meant to be so before the tournament, but as it progressed, the feeling among fans as well as the opposition was that India were all about Kohli.
Tendulkar finished the 1996 World Cup as the top-scorer with 526 runs from seven games at an astonishing average of 87.16.Kohli, on the other hand, tallied 273 runs from five innings, the average being 136.50 and the strike-rate 146.77. "Sachin was truly a standout in the 1996 World Cup, just as Virat was in this one," Ashish Kapoor, a member of the 1996 team, told TOI. India's semi-final collapse was triggered by Tendulkar's unlucky stumping for 65, and as it happened, Kohli was left to bowl the last over on Thursday, trying in vain after having scored a magnificent, unbeaten 89.
In that summer of 96, India, after a stop-start beginning, hit full gear when they beat Pakistan in Bangalore. There was a feeling after that game that India had won the World Cup -if Pakistan was beatable, anybody could be. There was a similar sentiment running this time too after three back-to-back wins following the shock loss to New Zealand. "After the Pakistan win in the quarters in 1996, the hype was enormous. This time, once we beat Australia, it was built up as if we had won," Kapoor said.
The 1996 semi-final was pitched as India's battle against the two explosive Lankan openers, Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana. Both departed in the first two overs and the fans believed India were halfway to the final. It wasn't different when Jasprit Bumrah knocked out Chris Gayle's off-stump on Thursday, but there was one Lendl Simmons standing at No. 4, just as the Lankans had found a hero in Aravinda de Silva two decades back at the same slot.
Aravinda's 66 off 63 balls on that day is part of cricketing folklore, just as Simmons' 82 will be after Thursday.