T20 World Cup 2022: We were not up to the mark with the ball – Rohit Sharma after semi-final loss against England

Indian captain Rohit Sharma admitted they were not up to the mark with the ball after losing the semi-final clash against England at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday. India suffered an ignominious defeat of 10 wickets after Alex Hales and Jos Buttler chased down 169 without breaking a sweat and with four overs to spare.

Indian bowling looked toothless as they failed to create any kind of chances. The Indian fast bowlers had savored success in the tournament with the help of swing but they didn’t hit the right areas against the England openers.

Alex Hales and Jos Buttler both started aggressively for England and they took 63 runs in the PowerPlay overs. They obliterated the Indian bowlers and took them to the cleaners. The Indian pace battery looked out of sorts while the spinners also could not create any impact.

Buttler and Hales added 170 runs for the opening wicket, which is the highest partnership in T20 World Cup. It was just one-way traffic as Buttler went on to score an unbeaten knock of 80 runs while Hales smashed 86 runs off just 47 balls.

Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “Pretty disappointed how it turned up today. We batted well at the backend to get that score. We were not upto the mark with the ball, we couldn’t turn up today. It’s all about handling the pressure in knockout games. All these guys have played enough to understand that. These guys have played under pressure in IPL games, it’s all about keeping calm. We were nervy to start with, but you got to give credit to their openers, they played really well.”

He added, “I thought it swung a bit in the first over, but not from the right areas. We know the runs are scored square off the wicket, we were aware about it. When we won the first game, it showed a lot of character. The game against Bangladesh, it was a tricky one. I thought it was difficult defending 85 runs in 9 overs, but we held our nerve and executed our plans. Couldn’t do that today, and when you don’t execute your plans, you are in trouble.”

It was a disappointing performance from the Indian team as they could not come up with a collective effort. Furthermore, India’s openers could not deliver the goods in the World Cup. The team trudged to 38-1 after the first six overs against England and it was because of Hardik Pandya (63 off 33) that they could manage 168 runs on the board.

India will now take on New Zealand in a bilateral series.