Former Pakistan cricketers Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram shared their opinions on India’s heartbreaking 10-wicket loss to England in the second semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2022 at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday, November 10, 2022.
England totally decimated the Indian bowling attack as they chased down the 169-run target without losing a wicket in 16 overs. Jos Buttler made 80* and Alex Hales thumped 86*, while Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya made fifties during the Indian innings.
While sharing their thoughts on A Sports show ‘The Pavilion’, Wasim Akram blamed the slow batting by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and mentioned how India started slowly and perhaps a total of 190 would’ve been challenging.
“England just outplayed them in every aspect of the game. I think India’s start was very slow. They couldn’t recover on time. But those guys were something else, Alex Hales and Buttler. Probably 190 would have been a good total on this pitch. But firstly, India accelerated their innings pretty late. Only Hardik Pandya came and hit 63 off 33 balls which enabled them to post a respectable total,” Akram said on A Sports.
“Their captain looked out of touch, 27 off 28 balls and the of course Virat Kohli got his 50, played okay but on 40 deliveries. I think that was the difference between the two sides,” he added.
Waqar Younis had predicted earlier that England will beat India and elaborated on the same after his prediction came true.
He said: “Look, it was mostly guesswork to be honest. But everyone knows that England team is a very very good team. England were the only team who could have posed a difficult challenge to India in these knockout stages. But I never expected this kind of domination. They outplayed them.”
“India were totally in their shell, they did not know how to even start. From the very beginning, when they started batting, they were totally lost. They were not themselves. They did not play the aggressive cricket they are known for. In the first 6 overs, there were 38 runs in the board. By te time they realised they were behind the game, it was too late. The pitch got better in the evening. The way Hales and Buttler play, it’s hard to stop them,” he concluded.
England will now face Pakistan in MCG in the final on Sunday in a repeat of 1992 World Cup summit clash.
