England skipper Jos Buttler admitted that India outplayed them after their 68-run loss in the second semifinal of the ongoing T20 World Cup at the Providence Stadium, Guyana on Thursday. The Men in Blue posted a par score of 171 runs on a slow pitch after Buttler decided to bowl first, following a delayed start due to rain.
Virat Kohli was once again dismissed cheaply as his dismal form continued whereas Rishabh Pant was dismissed after scoring only four runs. However, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav continued their rich form, scoring 57 and 47 runs respectively. Rohit completed his 32nd T20I fifty off just 36 balls as he scored all around the ground.
The right-handed duo from Mumbai added a crucial alliance of 73 runs off 50 balls. Subsequently, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja added the finishing touches as they scored 23(13) and 17(9) respectively.
On the other hand, Axar Patel provided the early breakthrough as he got the big wicket of Jos Buttler. England kept losing wickets at regular intervals as they were bundled out for a paltry score of 103 runs. Harry Brook top-scored with 25 but none of the other batters could show much resistance.
Jos Buttler said in the post-match presentation, “India certainly outplayed us. We let them get 20-25 runs too many. It was a challenging surface that they played well on. They outplayed us and fully deserved the win. Very different conditions (than 2022), credit to India. They played a really good game of cricket. With the rain around, didn’t expect the conditions to change that much. Don’t think it really did.”
Buttler also admitted that India outbowled them and gave credit to the opposition spinners as Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav picked six wickets between them.
Buttler said, “They outbowled us. They had an above-par score. I don’t think that toss was necessarily the difference between the teams. They’ve got some fantastic spinners. Our two guys (Rashid and Livingstone) bowled well. In hindsight, should have bowled Moeen in that innings with the way spin was playing. They had an above-par score and with a brilliant bowling attack, it was always going to be a tough chase. With everything that’s happened throughout the whole tournament, really proud of everyone’s effort to be here. You can only play who’s put in front of you. We’ve had lots of adversities throughout the competition, we stuck well together as a group, played some really good cricket in patches but came up short when it mattered the most.”
England will next host West Indies for a three-match Test series.
