ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Experts slam India's 'timid' power-play approach after humiliating exit in semifinal
A thoroughly professional England annihilated an out-of-sync India by 10 wickets to sail into the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 final as Alex Hales and Jos Buttler's relentless hitting mortified Rohit Sharma's clueless attack in Adelaide on Thursday.
FollowFollowing India's humiliating exit from the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Adelaide on Thursday, former cricketers Shane Watson and Nasser Hussain criticised the Men in Blue's "timid" batting strategy. With half-centuries from Alex Hales and Jos Buttler, England crushed India by 10 wickets.
Also read: India knocked out of ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Analysing the 5 reasons for failure
India played cautiously in the powerplay, scoring only 38 runs, as was the case in the Group stage, while England took the other tack, scoring 63 runs in six overs.
India had a more aggressive batting strategy before the T20 World Cup, but players like Rohit Sharma and K L Rahul could not go all out on the big stage.
Despite the fact that India had already been eliminated from the last edition in round one a year prior, there was a sense of déjà vu in their utter surrender.
"India were too timid with the bat. Unfortunately, Rohit and KL have not been able to take the game on in the first six overs. They have got the firepower but you have to take the game on in T20 cricket," former Australia all-rounder Watson told Star Sports. "Hardik was able to take the game on but India should have attacked 6-8 overs earlier."
As England skipper Buttler hit the winning six, Nasser Hussain on air remarked, "India were timid upfront and England have taken them down."
Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram said India's slow start cost them the game. "Their start was slow and they could not recover from that. 190 probably would have been a good total on this wicket. They accelerated late, if it wasn't for Hardik Pandya, India would not have even got a respectable total. Their captain (Rohit) looked out of touch and then of course Virat got his fifty but he took 40 balls to do that. That was the difference," Akram told A Sports.
Former India selector Sarandeep Singh too gave his honest assessment on the game. "Unfortunately for India, Rahul and Rohit could not find form in the big games, putting pressure on Virat and Suryakumar, who both can't perform game after game," he told PTI referring to Kohli and Surya's splendid run.
"One of the team's biggest mistakes was to not play Yuzvendra Chahal in the entire tournament especially today. You saw how effective England's wrist spinners were. Not playing Rishabh Pant in the league stage (he played only one game) also baffled me," he added.
Sarandeep said some tough calls have to be taken as India plan for the 2024 T20 World Cup in the Americas. "I don't see at least half of the team members playing the next T20 World Cup, including Rohit, Virat, Ashwin, Shami and Bhuvi. The selectors need to take a call on that," the former India spinner added.
Watson was also surprised that India did not go ahead with Chahal when Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone purchased a lot from the Adelaide strip. "India did not have a wrist spinner and England spinner had two. In hindsight they certainly missed Chahal. He can control his his pace like Rashid did tonight. He has got incredible skills and would have been brilliant tonight," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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