The trend of Team India going virtually unblemished in the group stages of ICC tournaments only to lose in the knockout rounds persisted in the T20 World Cup 2022 as well.
On Thursday (November 10), the Men in Blue were handed a crushing 10-wicket defeat by England in the second semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2022.
India got off to a slow start losing openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul early. But it was Virat Kohli who continued his dominance at the Adelaide Oval, scoring 50 off 40 balls and Hardik Pandya’s whirlwind batting in the slog overs, smashing 63 off just 33 balls, took the team’s total to 168/6 in 20 overs.
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Former India cricketers Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh voiced their disappointment in the Indian team’s conservative batting approach in the powerplay overs.
“I think to change the template they had to take some serious calls. They looked at new players who can offer you those templates. Lot of things have to be discussed over the table and we need to see how they can prepare themselves for the next T20 World Cup,” Ojha said while speaking to India Today.
“India were talking about changing the template in T20 cricket but it never looked like it. Slow start in the powerplay extended to the 9th and 10th over. India failed to change gears and throughout the tournament, India could not get a rapid start,” he added.
Chasing an above-par total, England openers Jos Buttler and Alex Hales batted in an ultra-aggressive mode from ball one and just belted the India bowlers all over the park.
The English team overhauled the target without losing a wicket. The highest win margin for any side in the men's T20 World Cup knockout rounds was achieved with this victory with 24 balls remaining.
The problem, according to Harbhajan, was more with the Indian batters holding back until the 15th over in their innings.
“India batted like ODI in first 10-12 overs like they still had 40 more overs to play. India should learn this format from England. They played like champions. It is very disappointing to see India's approach throughout the tournament where they did not look like they would score more than 35 runs,” Harbhajan said.
The finals of the showpiece event will see England take on Pakistan on Sunday (November 13) at the MCG.
(INDIA TODAY INPUTS)
