India’s 10-wicket defeat to England in the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinal saw their seventh knockout defeat in an ICC tournament since their Champions Trophy win in 2013. However, India captain Rohit Sharma opened up on handling pressure on the big day.
“You cannot go and teach people how to handle pressure,” Rohit Sharma said post-match. “Lot of these guys play under pressure in IPL and some of them are able to handle that. When it comes to knockouts, it is about keeping calm.”
The skipper further shared that bowling was the key differentiator between both sides where Team India lost the match.
“We still batted well at the back end. Not good enough with the ball, definitely not a wicket where a team could chase in 17 overs. We just did not turn up with the ball,” he further said.
“We were a bit nervy the way we started with the ball. We wanted Bhuvi to keep it tight, on the stumps, we knew where runs are scored in Adelaide, square of the wicket, we spoke about that, but that did not happen,” Rohit Sharma concluded.
However, having lost the toss and being put in to bat first, India managed to post 168/6 in their quota of 20 overs. In return, the England openers, Jos Buttler (80 off 49) and Alex Hales (86 off 47) guided England to a semifinal win in style with 24 balls to spare as well.
England will now take on Pakistan in the T20 World Cup final on Sunday, November 13 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Meanwhile, after the win, Jos Buttler said: “I think the character we have shown since then (England’s loss against Ireland) – it has been amazing. We came here very excited, there was a very good feeling. Everyone from 1 to 11 – stood up today. We always want to start fast and aggressive.”
“Rashid was batting at 11, that’s incredible to know that we have such depth. Hales used the dimensions well and he has shown his form. He was brilliant today. It’s important to enjoy this, it was a brilliant performance from us. I think we need to give special credit to Jordan, to bowl 3 overs at the death coming into the semi-final, it was a tough job. He handled the pressure towards the end pretty well, especially bowling against a world class player like Hardik Pandya,” he concluded.
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