Adelaide: Former cricketers Shane Watson, Wasim Akram and Nasser Hussain slammed India’s ‘timid’ batting approach following team’s embarrassing exit from the T20 World Cup, here on Thursday.
England hammered India by 10 wickets with Alex Hales and Jos Buttler striking powerful half-centuries.
As it was the case in the Group stage, India played conservatively in the powerplay managing only 38 runs while England’s approach was the opposite as they raced to 63 in six overs.
Ahead of the T20 World Cup, India had adopted a more aggressive batting approach but the likes of Rohit Sharma and K L Rahul were unable to unleash themselves on the big stage.
There was a sense of deja vu with India’s abject surrender though they had exited from the previous edition 12 months ago in round one itself.
“India were too timid with the bat. Unfortunately, Rohit and KL have not been able to take the game on in the first six overs. They have got the firepower but you have to take the game on in T20 cricket,” former Australia all-rounder Watson told Star Sports.
“Hardik was able to take the game on but India should have attacked 6-8 overs earlier.”
As England skipper Buttler hit the winning six, Nasser Hussain on air remarked : “India were timid upfront and England have taken them down.”
Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram said India’s slow start cost them the game.
“Their start was slow and they could not recover from that. 190 probably would have been a good total on this wicket. They accelerated late, if it wasn’t for Hardik Pandya, India would not have even got a respectable total.
“Their captain (Rohit) looked out of touch and then of course Virat got his fifty but he took 40 balls to do that. That was the difference,” Akram told A Sports.
Former India selector Sarandeep Singh too gave his assessment on the game.
“Unfortunately for India, Rahul and Rohit could not find form in the big games, putting pressure on Virat and Suryakumar, who both can’t perform game after game,” he told PTI referring to Kohli and Surya’s splendid run.
—PTI

Press Trust of India