Former England skipper Nasser Hussain feels India doesn’t play a fearless brand of cricket in ICC events after the Virat Kohli-led team was knocked out of the tournament on Sunday.
New Zealand went on to beat Afghanistan by eight wickets at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on Sunday and thus ended India’s hopes of qualifying for the semifinals.
Hussain noted that the Indian team has a lot of talent in their team, which becomes a hindrance in their aggressive approach. In fact, it has been noticed that Team India mostly adopts a sedate batting approach in T20 cricket, which is maybe not the best way to go about their innings.
India lost their two opening matches of the tournament against Pakistan and New Zealand and it was always going to be a herculean task for them to qualify for the last four after losing the two main matches against the top teams.
“You have got to go out and express yourself. They (India) have got so much talent. That may be the only thing that’s holding India back in ICC events. They don’t quite play the fearless brand of cricket that they deserve to because they are so talented,” Nasser Hussain said while speaking to t20worldcup.com.
In fact, India had entered the tournament as one of the favorites to go all the way but the opening spell of Shaheen Shah Afridi pegged the team on the backfoot. Hussain feels India didn’t have a Plan B in place as soon as they lost early wickets against Pakistan and New Zealand.
“I had them as favorites. They had been playing IPL here, are a star-studded side. They got a setback in that first game. The way Shaheen Afridi bowled in the powerplay, those two deliveries that Rohit and Rahul got would have got a lot of great cricketers out. That’s sometimes the problem with the Indian side. They are so good at the top, some of the middle-order don’t get much of a hit and suddenly you need a Plan B and that was found wanting.
Hussain questioned the team’s selection of playing Hardik Pandya purely as a batter whereas he was also not impressed with Ishan Kishan’s opening in place of Rohit Sharma against New Zealand.
“I see India as a very talented side but sometimes selection wise Hardik Pandya just playing as a batter alters the balance of the side. Against New Zealand, the idea to split Rohit and Rahul was not a good one,” Hussain added.
India will play their last match of the tournament against Namibia.
