England defeated India by 10 wickets in the T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal to knock out Rohit Sharma and co. The Three Lions will now play Pakistan in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.
India came into the World Cup as favourites. Big names like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav – world no 1 in T20Is – were heading the lineup. They were missing key services of Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja, getting players Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel in the mix. Pacer Mohammed Shami was roped in.
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Some late brilliance by Shami and Virat Kohli helped India defeat Australia in the warm-up game. The second one against New Zealand was washed out.
The Men in Blue started their campaign with a thumping win against arch-rivals Pakistan. They then went on to beat the Netherlands. A loss against South Africa was a minor hiccup as Rohit and co topped their group.
Decoding India’s T20 World Cup 2022 campaign in Australia:
Powerplay woes: KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma struggled in the first six overs throughout the tournament. Both of them got one good inning each but lacked consistency.
KL Rahul in T20 World Cups vs top eight ranked teams
3(8) vs Pak Dubai
18(16) vs NZ Dubai
4(8) vs Pak Melbourne
9(14) vs SA Perth
5(5) vs Eng Adelaide
Bumrah-less India lacked pace: Australian pitches offer bounce. From England’s Mark Wood to South Africa’s Anrich Nortje used the favourable conditions to rattle batters. They bowled at close to 150 kmph regularly. However, neither of three India pacers -Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh – are express bowlers.
Also read: India vs England T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal: Powerplay analysis
No wrist-spinners in play: India went with Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel in the tournament. Yuzvendra Chahal, only wrist-spinner in the squad, was kept on the bench throughout. While leg-spinners have been key wicket-taking options in T20s, the large Australian grounds could have favoured one.
Virat Kohli and Suryakumar taking the load: The two batters, No 3 and No 4 respectively, scored most of India’s runs in the T20 World Cup 2022. While Kohli finished his campaign with 296 runs, Surya had 239 against his name.
