"To Be Honest, I Think India Were 30 Runs Short": Alex Hales Slams Team India's Batting In The T20 World Cup 2022 Semifinal
Published - 20 Nov 2022, 11:37 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:14 AM
Alex Hales suggested that India’s weak batting performance, more than their bowling, was to reason, as the stadium was a high-scoring paradise for batsmen, yet the Men in Blue came 30 to 40 runs short of challenging the mighty England team.
Rohit Sharma and company had an outstanding T20 World Cup campaign, beginning with a thrilling last-ball triumph over Pakistan. The team had only one setback during the Super 12 round and finished first in their individual group to earn a semifinal match against England.
The Men in Blue were crushed by a strong English team, who won the knockout match by 10 wickets, and the Indian ship capsized. Jos Buttler, the captain of England, and opening partner Alex Hales became the stars of the show as they misbehaved with the Indian bowling unit and successfully chased down a daunting 169-run mark with four overs remaining.
While his partner Hales contributed with a destructive 86 off 47 balls, Buttler slammed an undefeated 80 off 49 deliveries. Following their victory over India, England proceeded to beat Pakistan handily to win the World T20 championship in Melbourne.
“We were not up to the mark with the ball”: Alex Hales
In a virtual media interview, Hales, England’s standout performance from the semifinal, discussed the game and highlighted areas where India fell short in the elimination round. Hales pointed out that India’s failure to score runs while batting rather than poor bowling cost Men in Blue the game.
His comments were a dig at Rohit’s remark who had said after the semi-final loss, “We were not up to the mark with the ball, we couldn’t turn up today.”
“To be honest, I believe India fell 30 runs short.” Adelaide is a high-scoring field with shorter boundaries on both sides. Chasing a total of 160 or 170 is rather easy at that location, and credit must be given to our bowlers, which bowled really well because I was expecting India to post a total of around 190″ Alex Hales said.
“When you’re chasing 170, you always feel at ease in Adelaide.” Jos and I were bringing the momentum from the previous games into the powerplay. We wanted to attack right away, and the conditions helped us tremendously. “I don’t think it was awful bowling from India; I think it was just a chasing target for us,” Hales explained.
Team India has already started their next task, a full-fledged limited-overs series against New Zealand, after the T20 World Cup.
England, on the other hand, remained in Australia, where they are playing the Kangaroos in an ODI series.
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