Digital Desk: Team India's unpleasant trophy drought at ICC competitions
continued on Thursday as they were eliminated from the T20 World Cup finals
following a humiliating 10-wicket loss to England in the second semifinal of
the competition at the Adelaide Oval. As England's openers, Jos Buttler and
Alex Hales, stitched a record 170-run stand, closing up the chase with four
overs to spare, the Indian attack was unable to break through in their defence
of 169. Following the game, Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan,
published a scathing tweet criticising the Indian team.
India was the
only side to ever suffer a 10-wicket defeat in a T20 World Cup match, and this
was just the second time they had done so. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan,
Pakistan's opening duo, put together a 152-run partnership in their World Cup
debut in Dubai the previous year, helping Pakistan defeat India by 10 wickets.
The Pakistani
prime minister tweeted that the final will be between the two teams that had
defeated India by 10 wickets, which served to remind India's supporters of that
sad loss.
He wrote on
Twitter, "So, this Sunday, it's: 152/0 vs 170/0 #T20WorldCup."
The India versus
Pakistan final, which would have been a sight on Sunday at the illustrious
Melbourne Cricket Ground, was what the entire cricket world had dreamed for.
However, England had different ideas. Prior to Hardik Pandya's 63, which helped
India reach 168 for six, the top order of India laboured in the opening 13
overs of the match and did not take advantage of the shorter boundaries. The
opening stand was not broken by the Indian bowling assault, though, and England
advanced to the final where they will face Pakistan.
"Pretty let down with how it came
out today. To earn that result, we batted well in the later innings. We
couldn't show up today since we weren't proficient enough with the ball. In
knockout games, it's all about managing the pressure. These guys have all
played enough games to comprehend that. These players have experience playing
under pressure in IPL games; the key is to remain composed. We were a little
nervous at first, but their starters played extremely well, you have to give
them credit," Rohit said following the game.
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