T20 World Cup 2022: 3 reasons why Team India’s loss to England was on the cards

Team India’s T20 World Cup 2022 campaign came to a disastrous end as they were thrashed by England by 10 wickets in the second semi-final on Thursday, November 10. Sent in to bat after losing the toss, the Men in Blue recovered from a poor first half to post a competitive 168/6 courtesy of half-centuries from Hardik Pandya (63 off 33) and Virat Kohli (50 off 40).

India’s bowlers, however, were listless as England raced to victory in 16 overs without losing a wicket. Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded three fours in the opening over of the innings, which pretty much set the tone for Team India’s inept display with the ball.

In the end, it was all too easy for England as their openers Alex Hales (86* off 47) and Jos Buttler (80* off 49) featured in a record opening stand of 170*.

While India’s performance was shockingly poor in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022, we list three reasons why it was not surprising.

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#1 No-show from openers

India’s experienced openers let the team down. Pic: Getty Images

In the build-up to the T20 World Cup, Team India skipper Rohit Sharma proclaimed that the Men in Blue will stick to their aggressive batting approach even if the results do not go their way every time. The idea was the right one, but the execution was missing because India did not have the personnel to pull it off at the top of the order.

KL Rahul and Rohit himself had forgettable campaigns. They spent most of the World Cup searching for form. Their lack of contribution hurt Team India big time in the semi-final against England. Rahul was dismissed for five, while Rohit scored an ungainly 27 off 28 balls.

The powerplay, which saw only 38 runs being scored, was a massive phase in the context of the game. In contrast, England raced away to 63/0 from their first six overs.

Rahul did score two half-centuries, but those came against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Against the big teams, he scored four, nine, and five. Rohit also managed a half-century against the Netherlands, that too a chancy one.

In other matches, he registered scores of four, 15, two, 15, and 27. You can’t win World Cups with two underperforming openers.

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#2 Overdependence on Kohli-Suryakumar

Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav carried the batting on their shoulders. Pic: Getty Images

On paper, Team India’s batting looked one of the strongest in the competition. On the field, though, the team was carried primarily by Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli. The latter, once again, rose to the occasion in the T20 World Cup. He is still the leading run-getter in the tournament with 296 runs in six matches at an average of 98.67 and a strike rate of 136.41. The 34-year-old crossed the half-century mark in four of his six innings.

Suryakumar also lived up to all the 360-degree hype around him. Playing some stupendous knocks, he hammered 239 runs in six matches at an average of 59.75 and an exceptional strike rate of 189.68. Unfortunately, for Team India, the law of average caught up with him and he registered a failure in the semi-final against England. Once that happened, the Men in Blue were bound to struggle.

Hardik Pandya played a superb knock, but Team India had already fallen way behind in the contest. As mentioned earlier, there were no significant contributions from the openers. Pandya was inconsistent with the bat in the tournament, while Dinesh Karthik and Axar Patel made no impact with the willow.

In the end, the overdependence on Kohli and Suryakumar proved to be India’s undoing.

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#3 Impactless spinners

Ravichandran Ashwin could not deliver the goods. Pic: Getty Images

Team India’s pacers were impressive for a major part of their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign. Arshdeep Singh, the least experienced among the fast bowlers, stood out, exceeding all expectations. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami also did a good job. Of course, regarding their efforts against England, the lesser said the batter.

While the pacers carried the bowling attack, India’s spinners were as good as non-existent. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up six wickets in six matches, not bad at first glance. However, three of his six scalps came against Zimbabwe, and those too were lower-order batters.

There were hopes of a good performance from left-arm spinner Axar, but he was a massive disappointment. He was clobbered for 21 runs in his first over against Pakistan, and it seemed like Axar never recovered from the pounding.

It is not as if spinners have not made an impact in this World Cup. Even if we leave out Wanindu Hasaranga (15 wickets), who claimed most of his scalps against relatively weaker sides, Pakistan’s leg-spinner Shadab Khan has picked up 10 wickets in six games. Kiwi left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner claimed nine scalps in five games.

One can also take the case of England’s Adil Rashid, who might not have claimed a lot of wickets, but has still made a huge impact. He was Player of the Match for his figures of 1/16 against Sri Lanka and stifled India with his spell of 1/20. The sole wicket, that of Suryakumar, was worth a lot more.

In contrast, Team India’s spinners were found wanting, as a result of which their bowling department painted an incomplete picture.

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