NEW DELHI: After England came up short against India in the semifinal of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, former skipper Nasser Hussain said that the Jos Buttler-led side lost to a team who have "had all bases covered" in this tournament.
After a shaky group stage campaign, Jos Buttler's team secured a spot in the next round in style after beating the USA. However, they could not overcome India, who have been unstoppable in the tournament, remaining unbeaten since their campaign began.
"The narrative will be that everything on Thursday was geared towards India reaching the T20 World Cup final — the surface, the venue, all seemed to be in their favour. But if you look at things in greater detail, they came into this semi-final against England having just beaten 50-over world champions Australia on a bouncier, good pitch in St Lucia, and reverted to a lower, slower pitch and won comfortably, " Hussain wrote in his column for Daily Mail.
"Fair play to them for the way they played and it feels right that India and South Africa, the two unbeaten sides in the tournament, go head to head in Barbados on Saturday, " he added.
Captain Rohit Sharma's 32nd T20I fifty through a 39-ball 57 and Suryakumar Yadav's 47 off 36 balls helped India post 171/7. In response, England mustered only 103 all out as the Indian spinners Kuldeep Yadav (3-19), Axar Patel (3-23) and Ravindra Jadeja (0-16) combined to take six wickets between them to outclass the defending champions.
"A combination of seamers keeping the ball low and spinners turning it with no bounce made their 171 for seven a pretty decent score to defend, and Rohit Sharma showed his class by taking one of his favourite shots — the pull — out of the equation to make another half century, " said Hussain in his column.
He further pointed out that Buttler's decision to put India in to bat first is the one issue that could be levelled at the English skipper.
"The one issue you could level at Buttler was his decision to insert India after winning the toss. Perhaps with rain around he was thinking about Duckworth Lewis, and it was a bit damp up front which might have given them a better chance of their opening bowlers Reece Topley and Jofra Archer nicking people off.
"But it should not distract from the fact England lost to a team who have had all bases covered in this competition, " he concluded.
India now travel to Kensington Oval in Barbados to face South Africa in the final on Saturday, June 29.