T20 World Cup 2022: "I think that was a big difference between the two sides"- Wasim Akram critical of India's below-par showing with bat against England

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram was critical of India’s performance in their T20 World Cup semi-final clash against England. India suffered a morale-shattering 10-wicket defeat at the hands of the ODI world champions and were knocked out of the tournament.

Akram, a World Cup winner himself, felt that it was the approach of India’s big players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli that proved to be the difference in the end. Rohit couldn’t quite time the ball and struggled on his way to a knock of 27 off 28 deliveries. Kohli, top-scorer in the T20 World Cup looked in good touch and scored a half-century but came off 40 deliveries.

“Their captain looked out of touch, 27 off 28, and then of course Virat Kohli got his fifty, played okay but on 40 deliveries. I think that was a big difference between the two sides."

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T20 World Cup 2022: Wasim Akram feels powerplay score made a huge difference

England outclassed India in all departments of the game as they romped home by 10 wickets in 16 overs to reach the finals of the T20 World Cup. India managed to post 168 in their allotted 20 overs after being put to bat by Jos Buttler. In this regard, Wasim Akram thinks the Men in Blue got off to a shaky start, while only mustering 63 runs in the first 10 overs.

Despite having wickets in hand, India failed to secure the boundaries in the middle overs. A blistering knock from Hardik Pandya (63 off 33) which took them to a competitive score of 168. Then, Alex Hales and Buttler never allowed the Indian bowling attack to settle.

Having made their intent pretty clear in the powerplay overs, they never really backed down and kept piling the agony on the Indian bowlers. While Hales remained unbeaten on 86, Buttler scored an exceptional 80* to take England home with four overs to spare.

“I mean England just outplayed them in every aspect of the game today. I think when they lost the toss India, Rohit said that we would have batted anyways but I think they couldn’t quite recover from their shaky start."

Akram added:

“63 runs in 10 overs and then I think despite having wickets in hands they didn’t press on the accelerator. I can understand when you see the bigger picture that 168 in a semi-final is a challenging score but those guys were something else Alex Hales and Jos Buttler.

Probably 190 would have been a good total on this pitch but I think they started the acceleration very late. It was only due to Pandya’s 33 ball 63 that India could post a competitive score on the board.”

In a repeat of the 1992 WC final, it will be England and Pakistan who will fight it out to lift the T20 World Cup trophy at the iconic MCG on Sunday (November 13).