Former England captain Nasser Hussain has expressed his disagreement regarding the narrative of India getting favourable pitch, venue and scheduling in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
After the Rohit Sharma-led side qualified for the final with a crushing 68-run win over England, the likes of Michael Vaughan and David Lloyd raised their voice against ICC's decision to allot the second semi-final to India irrespective of their Super 8 standing.
Vaughan also questioned the scheduling of India’s matches, pointing out that they didn’t play a single match under lights during the entire tournament.
However, Hussain reckons India deserved to be in the final as they battled different conditions to come out on top.
"The narrative will be that everything on Thursday was geared towards India reaching the T20 World Cup final — the surface, the venue, all seemed to be in their favour. But if you look at things in greater detail, they came into this semi-final against England having just beaten 50-over world champions Australia on a bouncier, good pitch in St Lucia, and reverted to a lower, slower pitch and won comfortably. Fair play to them for the way they played and it feels right that India and South Africa, the two unbeaten sides in the tournament, go head to head in Barbados on Saturday," Hussain wrote in his column for Daily Mail.
In the semi-final, India lost Virat Kohli (9) and Rishabh Pant (4) early. However, skipper Rohit Sharma (57 off 39) formed a solid partnership with Suryakumar Yadav (47 off 36) worth 73 runs in 50 balls to put India back on track.
Later on, Hardik Pandya (23 off 13) and Ravindra Jadeja (17* off 9) played crucial cameos to propel the team a highly challenging 171/7 on a slow pitch.
In reply, England’s innings folded for a paltry 103 in 16.4 overs. It was a listless batting display from the defending champions as no one managed to touch the 30-run mark.
The duo of Akshar Patel (3-23) and Kuldeep Yadav (3-19) spun a web around the English batters, claiming three wickets each to secure India’s place in the final. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah also returned with a couple of scalps in his 2.4 overs.
"India's score was only slightly higher than the 168 they put up in the 2022 semi-final they lost to England at the Adelaide Oval, but the difference in conditions to here in Guyana was chalk and cheese. A combination of seamers keeping the ball low and spinners turning it with no bounce made their 171 for seven a pretty decent score to defend, and Rohit Sharma showed his class by taking one of his favourite shots — the pull — out of the equation to make another half-century," Hussain said.
"Suryakumar Yadav addressed the lack of bounce by opening areas of the ground that other batters simply couldn't with his scoops and wristy flicks, and they were well supported by Hardik Pandya's muscly cameo," he added.
India will now take on South Africa in the title clash at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on Saturday (June 29).
