Adelaide (The Hawk): The Rohit-Sharma-led team was eliminated from the massive tournament in Australia after a devastating ten-wicket loss to England in the semifinal of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022. Two key issues were the team's hesitant batting strategy during the powerplay and its lack of new ball penetration.
Any team finds it difficult to stop two batsmen of Jos Buttler and Alex Hales' calibre once they get going, and the two turned in their greatest performances in the semi-final.
In the semifinal of the T20 World Cup, England's opening batsmen Buttler (80 not out from 49 balls) and Hales (86 not out from 47) made a chase of 169 look easy, propelling their team to the final with a decisive 10-wicket victory over India.
It shouldn't stop India from considering how their own performance contributed to the manner of the defeat, though. A review of the few factors that led to India's poor performance in the semifinal.
Using a conservative approach in a powerplay and batting too late
A competitive score in a World Cup semifinal is 168/6. But it's not a fantastic one, especially not against a team with the firepower of England and on a good batting surface like the Adelaide Oval.
The fact that the final score was a par score of 168 despite fireworks from power batter Hardik Pandya's stunning 63 from 33 balls at the end implies that there was an issue with purpose.
The difference in intent during the respective Power Plays was the game's most glaring contrast, and it was easy to see why.
Even though losing KL Rahul for five early on was a loss, India just slightly exceeded a run-per-ball throughout that time of fielding restrictions. By the time they reached 38/1 after six, neither Virat Kohli nor Rohit Sharma had found their rhythm.
However, England's first players took a completely opposite approach, attacking right away to put their team ahead of the game and scoring at a rate of more than 10 per over the course of the Powerplay.
The fresh ball didn't penetrate at all.
India is in trouble as a result of their bat difficulties. However, the sum was so huge that any early successes would have put England under a lot of pressure. However, India's breakthroughs didn't materialise, and the captain blamed the bowlers' subpar performance in particular.
"We didn't get off to the best start with the ball. We had some trepidation. It swung today when Bhuvi bowled the opening over, but not in the ideal places," remarked Rohit.
"The square of the wicket was an area we were mindful of because that's where the runs today came, so we wanted to keep it tight and not give room. We'll take it if we play it close and the batsman continues to score runs. However, we didn't do that today, he continued.
Having not a strike bowler
Arshdeep Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar's movement has been India's Plan A throughout the tournament, taking wickets in the powerplay while employing spin and bowling into the pitch to absorb the middle overs and then implementing strategies at the end.
It's a good plan and very comparable to that of England's semi-final adversaries. But both attacks can occasionally appear weak if early wickets aren't taken.
That was undoubtedly the case for India on Thursday, when the injury to Jasprit Bumrah was felt greatly. There didn't seem to be a banker of a choice that the skipper could employ when India needed a competitive advantage.
Axar Patel was milked for 30 unnecessary runs from his four overs, while Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Pandya all bowled at more over ten runs per over. Arshdeep too struggled to keep it tight.
(Inputs from Agencies)
