It was a meek surrender in the end as India received a royal thrashing at the hands of England in the second semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2022, played in Adelaide on Thursday. India were below par in every department with batters failing to impose themselves while bowlers looked at sea while defending a middling total even as fielding left a lot to be desired as well.
India coach Rahul Dravid said the score line clearly states England’s superiority.
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“Probably would have certainly liked to go a couple of steps further. But just outplayed, outclassed today. They were the better team in all departments really. The score line showed that,” Dravid said during a post-match interaction with the media.
“Runs on the board was something (needed) in a semifinal. We had been batting well. We were one of those teams that were, even in these conditions, scoring 180, 180 plus. I think we had done it two or three times in this tournament, were playing well,” he added.
India batters failed to exploit the Powerplay overs in a stark contrast to England.
When asked if the conditions became more batting friendly during England’s chase, Dravid replied, “It’s just, maybe when the game started, the boys were saying it was a little bit tacky, it was a little bit slower. Having said that, they bowled really well. I thought they were really good up front. They hit really good lengths, didn’t really let us get away. We felt at that 15-over mark we felt we were probably 15, 20 short, and we really had a good last five overs.”
It was Hardik Pandya’s late blitz that lifted India to a fighting total. He made 63 off 33 and Dravid praised the allrounder for his effort.
“I think Hardik out there was absolutely brilliant, and in the end it looked like we were a lot shorter than even 15, 20 (runs). But I think we should have been able to get to 180, 185 on that wicket. Maybe things might have been different with an early wicket after that,” he said.
England openers Alex Hales and Jos Buttlers peppered the boundary as they struck unbeaten half-centuries to take their team into the final where they now face Pakistan for the title on Sunday.
“They (England) played well. That’s the reality of it. Once they got off to that kind of start, I think they could really sit back and control the run rate.” We had 168. They brought that run rate down to six and a half I think by the time the sixth over was finished, or seven runs an over, and then on a small ground like that, they were always in control, so they were going to control that game,” he said.
Dravid though added that the defeat cannot be termed as ‘debacle’ as Indian team had their moments during the tournament.
“They didn’t really need to take too many risks. They could sit back and — not that they didn’t take them; they played some really good shots right through. But these things happen and it’s disappointing. Debacle I’m not sure is the right word, but disappointing certainly,” Dravid said.
“It’s tough after a loss like that. But we’ll reflect on it. It’s tough to reflect on things so close to the result, but overall we ran a pretty good campaign. Over the last year, we’ve played some good T20 cricket. Even in this tournament, I think we’ve had our moments. There’s been some real individual quality from a lot of our players, shown some real good skills. But on the day we were just not good enough here,” he added.
Dravid said there will be a review.
“I’m sure that when you lose in a semifinal, it’s disappointing, but there are things we can look back on and reflect on and see that we’ve improved in and we can take forward and move forward as we build for the next World Cup,” he said.
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