With about 40 runs still to get, commentator Harsha Bhogle summed up the contest saying that at the moment it is looking like a boxing match with two fighters from different weight categories. England was in the heavyweight category for the entire match and India way way below that. The 10-wicket loss with four overs (a fifth of a T20 innings) to spare in hindsight informs that the Indian team was never in the game.
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Did India get the selection right? With each and every bowler being carved out of the ground it seems like not picking the wrist spinner Yazuvender Chahal wasn’t smart as hitting him against the spin would have been as difficult if not more as India found handling Adil Rashid and to an extent Liam Livingston. The seven overs between the two spinners went for just 41 runs and Rashid picked up Suryakumar Yadav, the one man who ensures that momentum is created in the tricky middle overs.
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Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel leaked 57 runs in 6 overs. The tone was set early as Jos Buttler and Alex Hales took on whatever India threw in the powerplay with tremendous intent. Apart from an innings stabilising 50 by Virat Kohli and a brilliant 63 of 33 balls (the highest strike rate in the match from either side) from Hardik Pandya, there was nothing that India could take as a positive from the knockout match.
India could not even create chances in the field with just one tough one coming when the match was already in England’s grasp. The Men in Blue lost the batting powerplay and the middle overs and they then lost the bowling powerplay and the middle overs when England was batting. The only phase where India did exceedingly well was while batting in their last three overs. That comparison turned out to be immaterial as England didn’t need the last four overs. No intent with the bat, barring Hardik, and no intensity or plans with the ball in hand. It was England all the way and India would come home with no crumbs of comfort.
