Hesitant India blown away by fearless England

England won the toss and put India to bat, wicket was a true Adelaide wicket with runs for taking. India wanted to and was given the opportunity to put runs on board was probably the only thing that went in India’s Favour.

It was same wicket where Rahul had hit a six over point last week even though against a less potent attack but the ground behavior would have remained same. Both openers instead of taking out the aggressive route tried to bide their time and which resulted in pushing team chances further back.

Rohit’s inning was totally momentum-stopping one and with Kohli playing in his standard way it was always being 30 short at 10th over. Rohit perished in trying to up the ante and in came Surya Kumar Yadav who was expected to deliver match-defining innings. In doing so he perished and with him went for another 25-30 runs.

Pandya subdued initially started to hit with long levers and when it looked India will get final thurst Kohli departed at wrong time just when everyone thought he will hit final gear. Pandya did well to finish with flourish that helped us to reach 168 ,but it was in all likelihood a good 35-40 run short.

With semifinal pressure still one would have thought that India will make match of it. But it was not a wicket where our bowlers were getting any swing and once Bhuvneshwar was hit for three boundaries one could see the panic button being hit.

What followed after was a carnage of Indian bowlers and match was finished in 16 overs. Buttler and Hales knew that they were going to be attacking from ball 1 and they just didnot bogged down.

Our spinners who were supposed to be vital cogs in a semifinal match were taken to cleaners. Ashwin-Axar went for combined total of 57 and their England counterparts went for 41 in 7.

Pant was in side to take on spinners and he was not utilized properly by the time he came spinners were bowled out. England spinners were allowed to bowl how they wanted and that too against a side which is said to be the best against spinners.

Another mega tournament where expectations were high and today we didnot had a bad 45 minutes it was a total mismatch. We were timid , and hesitant in our approach and were second best again in knockouts.  Selection always is debatable issue and was no different this time around.

Same problem of old haunts us again. Time to bring new faces for this format as there won’t be any pressure of expectations,when pressure is less then you do perform better.

Also Read: “Same story different year” – India slammed by England in T20 WC Semi-Finals