England thrashed India by 10 wickets in the T20 World Cup semi-final against England. While the superior side on the ground, they were also clear winners in the tactical battle, as Abhishek Mukherjee explains.

In cricket, when things fall apart for a side, they often do so at the same time. And in Twenty20 cricket, this happens too rapidly for most teams to recover. KL Rahul hit the first ball of the semi-final for four, but India fell behind in the game thereafter.

Hardik Pandya tried to bring his side back into it with an array of spectacular strokes, but the more England’s innings expanded in magnitude, the punier India’s efforts seemed. England were the better side – and that is an understatement – but they won the tactical battles too.

The why and when of Rishabh Pant

India went in with an unchanged side – in other words, they retained Rishabh Pant. Dinesh Karthik, brought into the squad as a ‘finisher’, had lasted two balls against Pakistan, an inevitable part of his high-risk role.

Against South Africa, when nearly the entire line-up caved in, he had to adapt to an uncharacteristic role, arriving inside nine overs. Against Bangladesh, he was run out in controversial fashion.

India drafted Pant into the side after that, perhaps to counter Karthik’s ‘failure’. They brought in Pant, who has curiously been unable to translate his outrageous strike rates in Tests (73), ODIs (109), or IPL (148) to T20Is (127).

Still, one can see the reasons. England have Adil Rashid, a world-class leg-spinner in limited-overs cricket, and Liam Livingstone, who can bowl leg-spin as well. There is no left-hander in the India top five, and he might be used to take them on.

Rashid was done inside 12 overs. With no left-hander, England could afford to give Livingstone an extra over, the 15th. Pant arrived after 17 overs to perform a role that helped Karthik earn a comeback to the national side at 37.

Sorting out Rahul

Against South Africa, Rahul had tried to guide a ball outside off from Lungi Ngidi to deep third and edged it to first slip.

Ben Stokes perhaps attempted something similar today, but it was too short, and Rahul cut him for four. The next ball was closer to the body, and Rahul placed it to a very square deep third for a single. Stokes bowled a straighter line for the rest of the over.

In the next over, Chris Woakes bowled on off-stump. It moved away, Rahul tried to guide to deep third – and edged. It went to the right to Buttler, and there was a slip in place if it had evaded him.

Sorting out Rohit

Rohit has got out to the short ball in this World Cup. However, over the years, the pull shot has got him runs, and were likely to do so at the Adelaide Oval, a ground with square boundaries.

England did not work towards getting Rohit out. They were happy to cramp him up for room, waiting until he took risks. Against Sam Curran in the fifth over, Rohit hit one over mid-wicket, stepped out for a cross-batted swipe, and was dropped next ball at backward point.

England did not get him – yet – but they had forced him to take risks. They pushed Rohit back into his shell (he hit one four in his last 14 balls) until he played a desperate shot that got him out.

Sorting out Kohli

Kohli’s 53-ball unbeaten 82 against Pakistan was the innings of a lifetime. Between that innings and the final, his 164 runs came at a strike rate of 132. But more importantly, Kohli had scored 16 runs from 17 balls of leg-break bowling.

A small sample, perhaps, but England stuck to leg-spin against Kohli. Of the 40 balls Kohli faced, 17 were leg-spin, and he managed only 23, including a four – off Livingstone, in that extra over that he would perhaps not have bowled, had Kohli not been at the crease.

After all, his figures against India until today read 5-0-74-0. His 3-0-21-0 today included a 10-run over, the 15th of the innings, that he bowled in lieu of Woakes.

A tale of contrasts

After three overs, India’s score stood at 11-1 – and that included that first-ball four. Rohit and Kohli, having played themselves in, brought some urgency to the scoring, but not enough. They hit three fours and a six in the next three overs to take the score to 38-1.

For perspective, on the same pitch, England hit four fours and a six inside their first three overs, the time Rohit and Kohli had taken to play themselves in.

India hit two more fours until the 10th over. Suryakumar Yadav cut loose in the 11th, hitting a six and a four, before perishing in the 12th. Until the 13th over, India did not hit another boundary.

Between them, India’s much-vaunted top three managed 82 in 73 balls, and hit 10 fours and a six (fewer than one boundary an over). By 73 balls, England scored 125.

There is little doubt that India wanted to leave their big hitting until the very end. That had worked for them as recently as in the Pakistan match. In fact, India’s final score of 168-6 was comparable to their 160-6 against Pakistan.

However, unlike the Pakistan match, India were batting first against a side who batted until 11. Any target less than outstanding would have been inadequate.

To add to that, there was Pant waiting to be let loose, followed by Axar Patel and R Ashwin.

India were very unlikely to have run out of wickets. They predictably ran out of overs, as many teams with conservative batting approaches have done in the past in the format.

They left it far, far too late. They added 106 runs in the last 10 overs – that is 10.60 an over – but then, England batted at 10.62 throughout their innings.

In essence, England batted throughout their innings at the same pace as India’s ‘acceleration’.

While England’s superiority was undoubtedly a product of their skills and depth, it also demonstrated how the two sides approached the format in the match.

It may be easy to put the blame on the bowlers in the aftermath of a 10-wicket defeat, but as with the 2021 World Cup match against Pakistan, India were out of the match by the time their innings was done. Or perhaps before that.

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