It was a lopsided game as England dominated and completely outplayed India.
A review of India’s problems:
Lack of power play by openers
India was forced to make up ground following another sluggish PowerPlay start. Rohit Sharma, who was out of form, needed some time to get going while K. L. Rahul, who had a boundary off the first ball of the game, battled to maintain the momentum.
India was happy to play it safe, as they only got one boundary in the first three overs after Rahul was dismissed for five runs in the second over.
But Jos Buttler set the tone by hitting three boundaries in the opening over against Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Even though Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma looked to escape later, they were unable to make much of an impact as India only managed to score 38/1 in the allotted six overs of the Powerplay, hitting just four fours and a six.
To make the most of the powerplay on a favourable batting surface, England, in contrast, blasted their way to 63 for no loss in six overs.
All during the World Cup, India had difficulty on the power play. In total, throughout the course of the six games they played, India scored 217 runs in 36 Powerplay overs, or just over six runs per over.
The openers only ever managed to get 40 runs or more in the first six overs once, against Zimbabwe (46/1).
At the T20 World Cup in 2022, India scored on the power play:
31.03 against Pakistan
64/1 versus the Netherlands
With South Africa, 33/2
37/1 versus Bangladesh
47/1 versus Zimbabwe
39/1 versus England
Rahul and Rohit’s batting struggles
Rohit Sharma had a terrible World Cup, scoring just 116 runs from six games at a 106 strike rate with just one half-century against the Netherlands.
Rahul’s two half centuries, which came against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, raise questions about his temperament in crucial games.
Nasser Hussain said as Jos Buttler hit the game-winning six, “India were timid upfront, and England have taken them down.”
When faced with spin, Rohit-Kohli was unable to raise the stakes.
Two of the most skilled spinners in the world, Rohit and Kohli, made absolutely no effort to stifle the spinners from England.
Adil Rashid of England bowled superbly for 1/20 with just one boundary allowed. The dangerous Suryakumar Yadav’s dismissal for 14 was his most significant contribution, however, as it severely damaged India’s chances of reaching a respectable total.
Equally unexpected was the fact that India let part-time spinner Liam Livingstone bowl his three overs for 21 runs. Before India hit Livingstone for a couple of fours to get 10 runs in his third over, he had only given up 11 runs in his first two overs.
India could have played it safe and saved wickets until the end because the Adelaide Oval has short square boundaries, but they opted to be conservative instead.
Alex Hales, on the other hand, demonstrated how to bat against spinners by attacking Ravichandran Ashwin and taking him for a couple sixes over square leg in addition to destroying Axar Patel.
India was unable to increase the tempo in the middle overs in large part due to England’s spinners’ seven overs of spin, which went for 41 runs.
Depending too heavily on Suryakumar
India was overly dependent on Suryakumar Yadav to get them out of trouble in virtually every game because the openers struggled to have an impact and the lower order was underwhelming.
Suryakumar was successful against England, going down for 14 to leg-spinner Adil Rashid and scoring 239 runs in six games at a strike rate of 189. This was a big blow to India.
Only after Hardik Pandya’s thunderous half-century at the end did India surpass 150, having previously managed only 62 runs in nine overs at a run rate of just over six between the seventh and fifteenth over.
Hardik, who got off to a sluggish start with 13 from 15 balls, hit 50 from the final 18 balls he faced to give the bowlers a respectable total to bowl at.
Pant has an unclear role.
Despite being selected before Dinesh Karthik for this vital match against England, India was unable to make good use of Rishabh Pant.
When Suryakumar died in the 12th over to attack the England wrist-spin pair of Rashid and Livingstone, India could have placed him at No. 4 instead of Hardik Pandya.
The two spinners were able to get away with it thanks to Hardik and Kohli, and Pant didn’t enter the batting until the final two overs, when he was forced to swing aimlessly at everything.
Chahal is not mentioned.
Many were perplexed as to why Yuzvendra Chahal was not selected for India after Rashid’s performance with the ball at the Adelaide Oval, where spinners have typically performed well.
Despite India’s strong record in Twenty20 internationals, it seemed strange that Chahal was not required even against The Netherlands or Zimbabwe.
With 22 wickets in 17 games for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2022 and an economy rate of 7.75, he had a positive influence, but India preferred the defensive spin options provided by Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel.
Ashwin-Show Axar’s failure
Buttler and Hales completely dismantled Ashwin, scoring 27 runs off him in just two overs.
With six wickets in six games at an economy rate of 8.15 and five of those wickets coming against Zimbabwe and the Netherlands, Ashwin had a dismal World Cup overall.
With just three wickets from five games at an average of 8.62 and going wicketless in crucial matches against Pakistan and England, Axar also struggled miserably with the ball.
No swing made it difficult for Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh were rendered easy pickings for the England openers with the new ball due to the lack of swing on offer.
As England sped to 33 in three overs because of three boundaries from Buttler off Bhuvneshwar, they never let up after that explosive start. Arshdeep was also struck for a four.
Hales crushed Mohammed Shami for a straight six in the sixth over, which didn’t exactly fill him with confidence. As India searched unsuccessfully for a true match-winning bowler at the World Cup, Hardik did not do much with the ball, taking eight wickets at an average
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