T20 World Cup: Experts slam India's 'timid' Power-play approach, question Chahal’s absence after semis defeat vs England

Former cricketers Shane Watson and Nasser Hussain slammed India’s ’timid’ batting approach following team’s embarrassing exit from the T20 World Cup, in Adelaide 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 India selector Sarandeep Singh too gave his honest 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. ‘‘One of the team’s biggest mistakes was to not play Yuzvendra Chahal in the entire tournament especially today. You saw how effective England’s wrist spinners were. Not playing Rishabh Pant in the league stage (he played only one game) also baffled me.’’ Sarandeep said some tough calls have to be taken as India plan for the 2024 T20 World Cup in the Americas. ‘‘I don’t see at least half of the team members playing the next T20 World Cup including Rohit, Virat, Ashwin, Shami, and Bhuvi. The selectors need to take a call on that,’’ the former India spinner added. Watson too was surprised at India not going ahead with Chahal when Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone got a lot of purchase from the Adelaide strip. ‘‘India did not have a wrist spinner and England spinner had two. In hindsight they certainly missed Chahal. He can control his pace like Rashid did tonight. He has got incredible skills and would have been brilliant tonight,’’ said Watson.