ICC T20 World Cup 2022: “India Needs To Rethink Its Approach In T20 Cricket” – Darren Lehmann

Former Australia National Cricket Team player Darren Lehmann has said that he was surprised to see Team India adopt a cautious approach with the bat in the first 10 overs in the second semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 against England National Cricket Team.

In the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final against England, India managed to score only 38/1 in the powerplay, and then 62/2 in the first ten overs. However, Hardik Pandya’s explosive knock and Virat Kohli’s half-century helped the Men In Blue post 168/6 on the board.

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The total was not at all enough as England chased down the target in 16 overs, thanks to the absolute destruction from Jos Buttler and Alex Hales and India faced a humiliating 10-wicket loss.

“With the kind of batting strength India has, you have to wonder why they played with such a cautious approach in the first 10 overs against England.

“Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul needed to take more risks at the start, but instead, they played very safe. As a result, there was too much for the batsmen at the end to do in the death overs,” said Lehmann, as quoted by News18.

“Look, India are a very competitive side and they obviously have the players to do the job. Why are they not doing it, or why they haven’t won anything for so long, obviously the management and selectors have to take a look? Maybe, India needs to rethink its approach in T20 cricket,” said the former Australian cricketer.

Darren Lehmann was asked if Indian cricketers should be allowed to participate in overseas franchise leagues like BBL to gain more experience. He responded:

“IPL was held in UAE last two seasons? And the World Cup happened in the UAE last year, right? Did India win that? I don’t think it is about getting overseas experience. The Indian players have enough T20 experience and enough experience of playing across various conditions. It is a matter of getting their act right.

“That’s not to say, they shouldn’t play overseas. We would love to have them in the Big Bash League here in Australia, for example. It would be great for the development of the league, as well as the development of some of the younger Indian players. But will it make the whole Indian team daring enough? No. They lost because of their conservative approach and England was able to blow them away easily,” said Lehmann.

I think it was an opportunity missed with the tournament not having an Australia-India final – Darren Lehmann

Former Australia National Cricket Team player Darren Lehmann further expressed his disappointment over Australia not being able to qualify for the knockouts on home soil. He also said that Team India and Team Australia not facing off was an “opportunity missed” in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.

“I think it was an opportunity missed with the tournament not having an Australia-India final, or even a semi-final. Just like India, Australia needs to have a rethink about its T20 cricket and how they want to approach it.

“We (Australia) needed to go harder from the start, but we were unable to. The loss to New Zealand was the reason we lost out on run-rate – that loss alone hurt our run-rate. I think the Australian players didn’t cope well with the pressure of a home World Cup,” he opined.

Lehmann also heaped praise on the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 champions, England National Cricket Team, and said that they are “ahead of everyone else” in limited-overs cricket currently.

“Look at players like Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes. They rose to the challenge and dragged their team along. They are a very explosive side with both bat and ball, and I think England in white-ball cricket is well ahead of everyone else at the moment. They deserved to win the trophy for the kind of cricket they played.

“Just look at the semi-final. India is such a good side, but they were at least 20 runs short on a spin-friendly Adelaide wicket. 160-170 is just not good enough for this English side. You need minimum 180 or even 190-200 against them, they are that good,” he said.

Darren Lehmann further said that the teams like Ireland, Netherlands and Zimbabwe pulling off upsets in the Super 12 stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 made the tournament more competitive.

“There was some hard-fought cricket in this tournament. The Netherlands were sensational beating South Africa, and that game still doesn’t kind of make sense as to how the Proteas lost that game. Pakistan of course benefitted immensely from it.

“But you also look at teams like Ireland and Zimbabwe winning games in the Super 12; it is good for world cricket when this happens. It upsets the world cricket order a bit and gives us a competitive tournament,” he signed off.

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