India’s campaign at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 has ended with a big defeat at the hands of England in Adelaide. After being put in to bat first, fifties from Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli lifted India to 168/6 but England overhauled the target in 16 Overs for a 10-wicket win to march into the final.
From India’s 15-man squad, three players are returning home without playing in a single match including Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Hooda and Harshal Patel.
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Former India selector Sarandeep Singh reckons that not playing legspinner Chahal was one of the team’s biggest errors.
“One of the team’s biggest mistakes was to not play Yuzvendra Chahal in the entire tournament especially today. You saw how effective England’s wrist spinners were. Not playing Rishabh Pant in the league stage (he played only one game) also baffled me," Sarandeep told news agency PTI.
He also pointed out lack of runs from openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul that regularly put the Indian middle order under the pump.
“Unfortunately for India, Rahul and Rohit could not find form in the big games, putting pressure on Virat and Suryakumar, who both can’t perform game after game," Sarandeep said.
He said the team management will have to make some big calls in the lead up to the next T20 World Cup to be played in 2024.
“I don’t see at least half of the team members playing the next T20 World Cup including Rohit, Virat, Ashwin, Shami and Bhuvi. The selectors need to take a call on that," the former India spinner said.
Former Australia allrounder Shane Watson was also surprised at the exclusion of Chahal when Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone proved quite effective in shutting down Indian batters.
“India did not have a wrist spinner and England spinner had two. In hindsight they certainly missed Chahal. He can control his his pace like Rashid did tonight. He has got incredible skills and would have been brilliant tonight," Watson told Star Sports.
The poor run of Indian openers also didn’t help their cause. Despite all the claims of a adapting to a new aggressive approach, India time and again were quite conservative in the Powerplay overs.
“India were too timid with the bat. Unfortunately, Rohit and KL have not been able to take the game on in the first six overs. They have got the firepower but you have to take the game on in T20 cricket," former Australia all-rounder Watson said.
“Hardik was able to take the game on but India should have attacked 6-8 overs earlier," he added.
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