Why India lost the World Cup semi-final to England
Sunil Sarpal analyses the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup – semi-final between England and India
England beat India comprehensively in the semis. England won the toss and decided to make first use of the ball.
After the match, Kapil Dev very rightly pointed out that Indians are chokers. (Although this tag was originally awarded to the South African team in 1991)
Before the start of the match, Sunil Gavaskar made a valid point – that Indians chase better than setting a target.
I personally attributed India’s defeat to ‘Law of Averages’ over any other pointer. One bad day in office and India is out of the ICC World Cup.
There are some valid questions on the selection of the side.
1) What is the utility of Axar Patel in the side? Does he fit into T-20 side, if yes, then on what basis – batting or bowling or in the category of being a bits and pieces player? He is neither a free flowing batsman, nor does he spin the ball judiciously.
2) What is Ashwin’s contribution in the side? Batsmen hit him for sixers at will. He is effective only on turning tracks.
3) Rohit Sharma being the captain of the side, performed little in terms of batting. How can a non-performing captain lead from the front?
4) In this match, both Bhuvi and Arshdeep were not disciplined in line and length and gave room invariably to batsmen to play freely.
England Captain Buttler, once settled, scored heaps of runs and India did not have the arsenal to get his scalp.
Indians batted poorly during first 6 overs and scored only 36 runs for the loss of KL Rahul. Another noticeable fact is, that Kohli does not score as quickly as Hardik or Surya K Yadav.
Making a mockery of Kartik vs Pant selection does not leave a good taste and is not a healthy sign for their confidence. As if this is a musical chairs game for them.
One more selection error, if not made, could have strengthened Indian batting. It was the non-inclusion of specialist batsman Hooda in place of bits and pieces Axar Patel.
In a nut-shell, India lost the match because of its own selection errors.
When doing post mortem of the match, it serves hardly any purpose. Pls do not expect Surya to deliver always. After including chahl and he failed what would be yr reaction. Cricket a game of glorious uncertainties.
The main difference was SKY not being able to be there for a longer period … Had he managed to play event 40-50 balls, India might have had another 50-60 on board a score of 220-230 !!
The moment that happens and England start under pressure, a few wickets go down … a few tight overs get bowled, it’s a different script !!
Basically in the first six overs of power play Rohit and Rahul were so cautious/ scared that they could not play well which let us down. India should have included Chahal in the team
In some matches it was found that Rohit lost his timings.
Indian bowlers could not take single wkt
What does it means. Indian attack has no bite.
We lost we lost that’s it. This very team defeated Pakistan then no questions were asked.In T20 games one has to treat and play with utmost caution without letting foot off the padal. We played badly, very badly that day and England played superbly.After defeats selection of teams is always raised and criticised.T20 is always that particular day game irrespective of teams strength and fame. It’s simple how you play that day.
In this game bhuvi and arshdeep were not effective as was the case against Pak. They were waivered. Once butler settles , he is a game changer.
I have pointed some selection errors which are visible. If we do not bring about changes, team india will suffer again.
India were looking a listless team right from the beginning.rohit did not show any Josh.looked as though he was scared
1. Player selection errors.
2. Mindset that Indians win in chasing game.