As India lick their wounds after a 10-wicket T20 World Cup semi-final defeat by England on Thursday, the inaugural champions would be quite right to think that their failing opening pair have let them down. Rohit Sharma‘s men beat arch-rivals Pakistan in their opener to reach the last four as Group 2 winners before being mercilessly dismantled by Jose Buttler’s England at the Adelaide Oval.
The opening pair of Rohit and KL Rahul again failed to give India a strong start and slumped to 5 and 27 respectively. Half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya helped India to a modest 168-6, but the target was chased down with ridiculous ease after England’s record stand of 170 runs was broken between Buttler and Alex Hales. “You need strong starts in T20 cricket,” India head coach Rahul Dravid said after the deflating loss. “If you lose the first six overs, both with the bat and the ball, it’s going to be really tough.
It was a poor tournament for Rohit, whose only fifty came against the Netherlands. Rahul hit half-centuries against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, which did little to convince the critics that he is a great match player. They often failed to push through the overs and slow starts put India on the back foot early, leaving the onus on Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav to help put up defendable totals.
If it got off to a good start, England won the semi-final on the powerplay alone. While India managed 38-1 in the first six overs, England milked 63 without loss and never took their foot off the pedal. “Once they got off to a start like that, they could really sit back and control the run-rate,” Dravid said almost wistfully. “On such a small plot of land, they were always in control. “They didn’t really have to take too many risks. They could be sitting, not that they were sitting. They made some very good shots straight through.”
