ICC T20 Men’s World Cup Devastated, gutted, hurt, says star all-rounder Hardik Pandya after India’s humiliating loss in the semi-final
Our Bureau
Adelaide
Following his side’s 10-wicket loss to England in the semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup, Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya took to social media to express his thoughts on his team’s exit, saying that he is “Devastated, gutted, hurt.”
Put to bat first by England, India posted 168/6 in their 20 overs. Hardik Pandya (63 off 33 balls) and Virat Kohli (50 off 40 balls) were the stars for Men in Blue with the bat. They put on a crucial stand of 61-runs for the fourth wicket.
Pacer Chris Jordan was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/43. Adil Rashid and Chris Woakes got a wicket each.
Chasing 169, England put pressure on Indian bowlers right from the first over. India did not have any answer for the onslaught brought by Jos Buttler (80*) and Alex Hales (86*). England chased the total with all ten wickets in hand with four overs to spare.
Pandya also thanked the support staff and fans for their help and support and remarked that his side fought for each other every step of the way. “Devastated, gutted, hurt. Tough to take, for all of us. To my teammates, I’ve enjoyed the bond that we built – we fought for each other every step of the way. Thank you to our support staff for their endless dedication and hardwork for months on end,” tweeted Pandya.
“To our fans who backed us everywhere we went, we’re forever grateful. It wasn’t meant to be but we’ll reflect and keep fighting,” he added in another tweet.
Hardik Pandya had a solid T20 World Cup with the bat. In five innings across six matches, he scored 128 runs at an average of 25.60. This includes the half-century he hit against England in the semi-final.
The all-rounder was also one of the side’s best performers with the ball, taking eight scalps. He finished as the team’s second-highest wicket-taker behind pacer Arshdeep Singh (10 wickets).
Top knocks from openers Alex Hales and Jos Buttler powered England to an emphatic 10-wicket win over India in the second semi-final of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup in Australia at Adelaide on Thursday.
Should have scored 180-185 runs: Dravid
Following his side’s 10-wicket loss to England, India head coach Rahul Dravid admitted that his side should have gotten at least 180-185 runs on the Adelaide surface and his team was outplayed in all departments by England.
“Obviously disappointed to finish at the semi-finals. We would have liked to go a couple of steps further. But we were outplayed and outclassed. England was the better team in every department and the scoreline shows that,” said Dravid in a press conference.
“We have been batting well. We were one of those teams who got 180-plus scores here (in Australia) two to three times in this tournament. When we started, the boys said it (surface) was tacky and slow. At the end of 15-over mark, we were around 15-20 runs short. In death overs, we were good, with Hardik being brilliant. We should have got 180-185 at the end,” he added.
Dravid appreciated England for their all-round efforts.
Asked about his thoughts on the team’s campaign, Dravid said that the tournament will be reflected upon by the team.
“I think overall, we had a pretty good campaign. We played some good T20I cricket. We had our moments in this tournament. Some individuals showed quality and skills. But today, we were just not good enough. I am sure we can look back on it and move forward,” he added.
On the future of senior players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar etc in the shorter format, Dravid said that it is too early to talk about it.
Dravid admitted that playing overseas T20I leagues would help Indian players but it has its share of challenges.
“Our boys do miss out on such opportunities. BCCI is there to take decisions. But if all players are allowed to play in such leagues, we would not have our domestic cricket. Ranji etc would be finished, Test cricket would be finished. We have to understand the challenges that Indian cricket faces in such situations. Our boys are being asked to play in such leagues. But then playing Tests is also important for the format,” he added.
With this, the final between England and Pakistan is set.
We failed to hold our nerves, says Rohit Sharma
Following his side’s ten-wicket loss to England in the semifinal of ICC T20 World Cup, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said his side was not up to the mark with the ball and failed to hold their nerves and in executing their plans.
“Pretty disappointed how it turned out today. We batted well at the back end to get that score. We were not up to the mark with the ball, we could not turn up today. It is 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 is all about keeping calm,” said Rohit during a post-match presentation.
“We were nervy to start with, but you got to give credit to their openers, they played really well. I thought it swung a bit in the first over, but not from the right areas. We know the runs are scored square of 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 we held our nerve and kept executing our plans. Could not do that today,” added Rohit.
Kohli completes 1,100 runs in T20 World Cups
India’s star batter Virat Kohli on Thursday became the first batter to complete 1,100 runs in T20 World Cups.
India’s star batter accomplished this landmark during his side’s second semifinal match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup against England at Adelaide Oval. In the semi-final match against England, Virat scored a delightful 50 off 40 balls. His knock consisted of four boundaries and one six. He struck the ball at a strike rate of 125.00.
On the second position in the tally is Sri Lanka legend Mahela Jayawardene with 1016 while in the third position is claimed by West Indies great Chris Gayle who has 965 runs to his name.
This was his fourth half-century of the ongoing edition of the tournament. He is currently the leading run scorer in the tournament so far. He has scored 296 runs in six innings at an average of 98.66. This also includes his instant-classic knock of 82* against Pakistan at Melbourne.
Kohli also became the first player in history to cross the 4,000-run mark in T20I cricket. With this half-century, Virat’s run-tally in T20I cricket has gone to 4,008 runs in 115 matches across 107 innings at an average of 52.73. One century and 37 half-centuries have come out of his bat, with the best individual score of 122*. His strike rate in the shorter format is 137.96.
Other top batters in the shortest format are Indian skipper Rohit Sharma (3,853), New Zealand opening veteran Martin Guptill (3,531), Pakistan skipper Babar Azam (3,323) and Ireland opener Paul Stirling (3,181).
It was fantastic to watch Hales: Jos Buttler
Following his side’s ten-wicket thumping victory over India in the semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup, England skipper Jos Buttler hailed opener Alex Hales’s blistering knock and said that it was “fantastic” to watch the batter slam Indian bowlers all around the ground.
The England opening duo put on a stellar show in Adelaide as they went on to hammer the Indian bowlers right from the beginning of their innings. It was Hales, who smashed Indian bowlers earlier in the innings as Buttler played the second fiddle. Jos Buttler and Alex Hales made a chase of 169 look like a cakewalk. Buttler scored 80* from 49 balls, with Hales playing an unbeaten knock of 86 from 47.
“Hales absolutely delivered in space. He is immensely tough to bowl at. It was fantastic to be at the other end and watch him go. He has been in such a wide range of shots and you know the dimensions of the ground. He played them fantastically well. Immensely proud that the guys played brilliantly in the tournament. It was a high-pressure game and immensely satisfied with the results,” Jos Buttler said during a post-match conference.
Buttler said his team played a spoilsport to an India and Pakistan final clash and he knows that many people would have loved to see the high-voltage clash between the arch-rivals.
“You know there are certainly few people who wanted that final of course. But certainly, for us, we are desperate to get there. I said spoil that party and I am sure having seen the first game of the tournament between India and Pakistan…… There are a lot of people that would have loved to see another edition of that but no we will have to wait for another time.
Talking about his team’s huge victory over India in the semi-final Buttler said, “We got off to a really good start. We kept the pressure on them. I think Rashid is down at number 11 today. Incredibly long batting line up which allows you to just keep going and play with so much freedom. And I think that was a big part of the day.”
