Captain Rohit Sharma is facing the ire of fans after he blamed India's bowlers for their semi-final defeat to England in the T20 World Cup, especially on the veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
His comments were not liked by Team India supporters who believed it was the failure of the side's top-order, particularly vice-captain KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma himself that was the main reason behind their shocking 10-wicket loss to Jos Buttler and company.
The way @ImRo45 offloaded the entire blame of today's #INDvsENG loss on bowlers, especially @BhuviOfficial was very irresponsible! That's not how leaders are supposed to behave!
Really bad example! #shameful
— Anant Garg (@anantg_) November 10, 2022
Rohit straight away shifting blame onto his bowlers after dropping an absolute stinker of a knock up top. We all just watched what proper openers can do, YOU didn’t turn up either
— Ollie 🇦🇶 (@cricollie) November 10, 2022
Nasser Hussain rightly said Indian team was timid. He compared the Indian openers to England openers. Rahul and Rohit were disastrous while Butler and Hales expressed with the bat beautifully. That made the difference and Rohit blames the bowlers
— N Jagannath Das_TT (@dassport_TT) November 11, 2022
Rohit was right about India's bowlers but also wrong to throw them under the bus. And right through the tournament, he tried to bat like a proper T20 opener but struggled to make it happen. In all, a strange and sad World Cup for him.
— Karthik Krishnaswamy (@the_kk) November 10, 2022
India's bowlers were completely ineffective in the match and didn't succeed in picking up a wicket in the semifinal as Jos Buttler and Alex Hales smacked them all over the park.
The England openers were particularly severe on India's new ball bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who gave away 25 runs in the two overs he bowled in the contest.
“It's pretty disappointing how we turned up today. I thought we still batted pretty well at the back end to get to that score, but we were not good enough with the ball. It was definitely not a wicket where a team can come and chase it down in 16 overs. With the ball we didn't turn up today,” Rohit Sharma said after the loss.
“When it comes to knockout stages, it's all about handling the pressure. Depends on the individual as well. You can't teach anyone to handle pressure. When these guys play the playoffs in the IPL and all that, those are high-pressure games, and they're able to handle it. The way we started with the ball was not ideal. We were a little nervy, but you have to give credit to the openers as well. They played really well,” the 35-year-old stated.
“When Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) bowled the first over it swung today, but not from the right areas. We wanted to keep it tight, not give room, because square of the wicket was an area, we were aware of – that's where the runs came today. If we keep it tight and the batsman still score runs, we'll take it. But we didn't do that today. In the game against Bangladesh, it was tricky as well, but I thought we held our nerve that day, executed well,” the India captain pointed out.
The legendary Virender Sehwag though didn't seem to agree with Rohit Sharma's remarks about Bhuvneshwar Kumar and India's bowlers. In Virender Sehwag's opinion, it was the Indian batting that let the team down on the big stage.
“If the top order has batted 12 overs to just score 82 runs (77), then expecting the rest of the batters to come in and play fearless cricket and score 100 runs in eight overs, that is also not right. Yes, the average total of this ground may be 150-160 and you made more than that. But then on the day itself, if one batter gets set on that pitch, the average total stops mattering. We have seen this happening a number of times here at the Wankhede or the Feroz Shah Kotla or in Chennai. Today's game could not have been won with scores of 150-160,” Virender Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
“New Zealand played a certain way against Australia (in their first match) but they didn't do that again in the semi-final and they got knocked out. If India feel that they made an above par total and so it is bowling's fault, I don't agree with that. We lost the match in the first 10 overs when our batters did not give the kind of start that we were hoping for,” Virender Sehwag pointed out.
Virender Sehwag's scathing take on India's failure to end their drought in ICC events came after skipper Rohit Sharma squarely blamed his bowlers for the loss.
India's long wait for a major trophy extended to nine years following their annihilation by England in Adelaide. The Men in Blue last lifted the ICC Champions Trophy title in 2013 under the leadership of the legendary MS Dhoni.
Even 1983 World Cup winner Sunil Gavaskar echoed similar views, claiming that India's top order hasn't sparkled in ICC events in a long time.
“I just think, they just seem to freeze in the knockout games, particularly with the batting. It's the batting which has been the strength of the Indian team. In the semi-finals, the batting hasn't contributed as much as they should,” Sunil Gavaskar said in a conversation with Star Sports after India's defeat.
“At that stage you face much powerful attacks, than may be in the group stages. Maybe that is understandable. Batting hasn't really got the runs that the bowlers can defend. India have always been a good chasing side but the moment Buttler won the toss and elected to bowl first, I though India must get 180 runs on board. But they were 170 for no loss, even 180 would not have been enough. But it gives that little bit of cushion which they didn't have this time,” Sunil Gavaskar signed off.
Follow Us
Subscribe