Nasser Hussain, the former captain of England, has refuted the idea that India’s T20 World Cup schedule and pitch circumstances were advantageous. This happens after India defeated England, the reigning champions, by a decisive 68 runs to go to the final.
Critics of India’s privileged positioning, such as former England cricketers Michael Vaughan and David Lloyd, have not minced words. They drew attention to the fact that India was given the second semifinal slot and did not participate in any matches held in the evening during the competition. Hussain, however, took issue with this story.
The now-famous broadcaster Hussain maintained that India should have been in the championship game. He made the point that despite a variety of challenges, India did admirably. India played on a superb batting ground in St Lucia for their most recent Super Eight match against Australia. They reached 205/5 and won by 24 runs. They won the semi-final match against England because they were able to adjust to the Providence Stadium in Guyana’s slow, low pitch.
The story will be that everything on Thursday looked to be in India’s advantage in order for them to advance to the T20 World Cup final—the surface and the location, in particular. If you examine the situation more closely, though, you will see that they entered this semi-final match against England having just defeated 50-over world champions Australia in St. Lucia on a bouncer, excellent surface. They then switched to a slower, lower pitch and won handily. “It feels right that India and South Africa, the two undefeated teams in the tournament, go up against each other in Barbados on Saturday. Fair play to them for the way they played,” Hussain wrote in his Daily Mail column.
Important knocks from skipper Rohit Sharma (57 off 39) and Suryakumar Yadav (46 off 37), who steadied the batting after early losses, helped India to a score of 171/5. Towards the close, contributions from all-rounders Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, and Hardik Pandya strengthened the total.
In reply, England found it difficult to handle the bowlers from India, particularly Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, and Kuldeep Yadav. India’s position in the championship match was assured when the reigning champions were bowled out for 103 in 16.4 overs.
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The conditions here in Guyana were completely different from those in the 2022 semi-final match where India lost to England at the Adelaide Oval, despite the fact that their score was only marginally higher than that of the English team. Their 171 for seven was a reasonably reasonable number to defend thanks to seamers keeping the ball low and spinners twisting it with no bounce. Rohit Sharma showed class by removing one of his favourite strokes, the pull, from the equation to get another half-century, Hussain continued.
South Africa and India, the two undefeated teams, will square off in Barbados in the championship match.
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