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The way India lost to England in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2022, it was humiliating, to say the least. There was not a single moment in the game where the Men in Blue looked like they have an upper hand. Be it batting and bowling, India was conservative. It can be understood by the fact that England scored 63 runs in their first six overs while India managed only 38.
The biggest reason behind this was KL Rahul’s early dismissal but Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were responsible too. The two most experienced batters in the team did not know how to counter English bowlers. While Kohli launched Woakes for a six in the fourth over, Rohit still fought hard to score boundaries. The Indian captain eventually perished while trying to take on Chris Jordan.
Suryakumar Yadav came, smashed a six and a boundary and departed after scoring 14 runs from 10 balls. Then came Hardik Pandya who also took his time before eventually unleashing his big shots. India somehow managed to put 168/6 on the board but Jos Buttler and Alex Hales made a mockery of the target, chasing it down with ten wickets in hand and four overs left.
This thrashing from England has raised serious questions on India’s approach in T20Is, in fact, white-ball cricket. Former England cricketer Michael Vaughan has pointed out that Indians are still playing an outdated brand of cricket and is suffering because of that. Vaughan also claimed that the Men in Blue will go down as the most underperforming team in white-ball history.
"India are the most under-performing white-ball team in history," Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph. "Every player in the world who goes to the Indian Premier League says how it improves their game but what have India ever delivered? Since winning the 50 over World Cup on home soil in 2011 what have they done? Nothing. India are playing a white-ball game that is dated and have done for years," he added.
"I'm just staggered by how they play T20 cricket for the talent they have. They have the players, but just do not have the right process in place. They have to go for it. Why do they give the opposition bowlers the first five overs to bed in?"