ICC T20 World Cup 2022: India was knocked out in the semis to England in Adelaide on Thursday. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma has blamed his side for not handling the pressure despite having enough experience with it.
The quest for India's hunt for its second ICC T20 World Cup title has ended in heartbreak. It has been knocked out in the semis of the ICC T20 World Cup, as England pummeled it by ten wickets at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday. In one of the most one-sided semis of the event, the English openers Jos Buttler and Alex Hales produced a record 170-run tournament opening stand to get the job done. The Indians would have wanted to lose on a competitive note, let alone win. At the same time, skipper Rohit Sharma believed that his side couldn't handle the pressure, which has been the case for the Men in Blue lately, despite having enough experience with it.
During the post-match presentation, Rohit suspected, "Pretty disappointed how it turned up today. We batted well at the backend to get that score. We were not up to the mark with the ball. We couldn't turn up today. It's all about handling the pressure in knockout games. All these guys have played enough to understand that."
"These guys have played under pressure in IPL [Indian Premier League] games. It's all about keeping calm. We were nervous, but you got to give credit to their openers. They played well. It swung slightly in the first over but not from the right areas. We know the runs are scored square off the wicket. We were aware of it," added Rohit.
"When we won the first game, it showed a lot of character. The game against Bangladesh was a tricky one. I thought defending 85 runs in nine overs was difficult, but we held our nerve and executed our plans. Couldn't do that today, and when you don't execute your plans, you are in trouble," Rohit concluded.